The Mortal's Guardian: Michael's Story
by DScribbleF
Summary: Michael is a hardworking Celestrian, a guardian of the mortal race, with a sense of humor. When a catastrophe strikes his home and launches him into the village he is supposed to protect, he finds an adventure that no one could have ever foreseen with a strange group of friends. He's thrilled.
1. Chapter 1: The Journey Begins

**Hello everyone, and welcome to the first chapter of my first story ever on FanFiction. I don't have much to say now, so I'll just let you guys jump right into the story.**

**Disclaimer:**

**Dragon Quest IX is the rightful property of Square Enix and I own nothing in this story except my original characters.**

_Chapter One: The Journey Begins_

"_Hello? Is anyone there? If you're there, say something. Show yourself."_

"Thus do the voices of mortals plead, ever hopeful for proof of our existence…" my teacher explained to me, his apprentice. "For how long now have we watched over their realm…? For how long have we Celestrians existed…?"

Yeah, we were Celestrians: sacred creatures whose duty was to protect the mortals who lived in the Protectorate. And we were immortal. Are you envious? We were literally watching _over_ the peaceful village of Angel Falls as we were flying thirty feet in the air with our angel wings. Yep, we have wings. I bet you're envious now. My teacher was a middle-aged-looking man with a perfectly bald head named Aquila. Me? I'm, Michael. I have spiky green hair and bright blue eyes. Oh, and we both were wearing funny looking clothing and had halos over our heads.

Having finished looking over the village, Aquila turned back to me and said, "You have come far, Michael. I must confess to having my doubts when you became Guardian of the village in my stead, but its inhabitants' continued peace and safety is proof of your devotion. When Apus Major came and told me 'Aquila, take Michael as your apprentice,' I never imagined I would see you become so strong. You are indeed worthy of your title, Michael, Guardian of Angel Falls."

Now, Aquila is not a man known for giving compliments, so I was slightly shocked to receive such a large compliment from him. All I could do was reply "Th-thank you, Master."

"You're welcome. You have more than ear…" Then something caught his attention. "Oh! Look over there Michael." In the distance there were two people walking along the trail towards town. I immediately recognized the young woman with purple hair as Erinn the innkeeper and the old man as her grandfather Flinn.

"Hahh…" Flinn said, "hahh…don't ever get old, my dear Erinn. You don't ever want to get old."

Erinn turned towards her grandfather with a smile large enough that I could see it way over where I was. "Oh, Grandpa," she said. "It's not much further now. I'm sure you'll make it just fine."

Suddenly, a Cruelcumber and two Slimes burst out of a bush and hid behind a rock, waiting to ambush the two travelers.

"These wicked creatures must not be allowed to ambush innocent members of your village, Michael," said Aquila. "Come, Guardian of Angel Falls, it is time to fulfil our duty as Celestrians!" I nodded in agreement and quickly followed Aquila, who had swooped down and challenged the monsters to battle.

Having heard us approach, the monsters turned around and prepared to attack us instead. I always wondered why monsters and animals could always see Celestrians, but I stomached my curiosity as we drew our swords.

The battle took no time at all. Aquila easily took out the Cruelcumber while I easily took out both slimes with my blade.

As we finished fighting, I noticed that Erinn and her grandfather had stopped by the rock. Erinn cheerily exclaimed, "Look, Grandpa. There's Angel Falls up ahead"

Panting, her grandfather sighed, "Aaah… I honestly believed I'd never set my tired old eyes in the place again, but here we are at last. Home sweet home."

Erinn, still smiling, put her hands on her hips and replied "Oh, don't be so melodramatic, Grandpa! The village Guardian will have been watching over us all the way. Nothing could ever have happened to us!"

'_Damn straight!_' I thought to myself.

She then put her hands together and bowed her head, "Benevolent Michael, thank you for protecting us on our journey." Once she finished, she continued with her grandfather the rest of the way to the village, leaving behind a beautiful blue crystal that shone with bright light. I quickly went and collected it.

"Behold, Michael," announced Aquila. "Benevolessence. The crystallization of the mortals' gratitude towards us for protecting them. As Celestrians, our cardinal duty is the offering up this sacred substance to mighty Yggdrasil, the Great World Tree_. _Come, Michael, let us return to the Observatory so that you may make your offering."

I nodded and we flew straight into the clear sky and flew at high-speed to the ancient floating tower that I, and all other Celestrians, call home. At the very top of the beautiful structure was the even more beautiful Yggdrasil Herself, a sight which made my heart soar.

We entered through a portal on the bottom floor and gently landed in the large chamber. Aquila turned to me and said, "The first task a Guardian must perform upon returning from the Protectorate is to report to Apus Major. As unchanging as the North Star, you will find him in the Great Hall." He turned away.

"Will you not come with me, Master?" I asked.

Turning back, he answered, "Nay. I have other matters that I must attend to. You must excuse me." As he once again turned away and left, I noticed that he was heading in the direction of the grave of his old Master, Corvus, who had disappeared ages ago in the Protectorate. Remember, we are immortal, so we are all older than we look.

I quickly run up too many staircases and reached the Great Hall, where, as always, Apus Major stood upon his daïs ahead of me. "Good day, sir," I greeted, kneeling before the leader of all Celestrians.

"Well met, Michael, apprentice of Aquila," replied the extremely ancient being. "Welcome back. I trust your absence has not been so lengthy that you forget your old Master, Apus Major!"

Smiling, I answered, "Of course not. How could I forget one such as yourself?"

Laughing, Apus Major continued, "Indeed. Also, you have my congratulations on successfully completing your first task as a Guardian, Michael." I happily accepted his praise, which flowed much easier from him as it did from Aquila. "You have performed your duties well thus far," he continued, "albeit under Aquila's watchful gaze. However, the time has come for you to spread you own wings." I struggled not to roll my eyes after he had said that. "What say you? Are you ready to undertake your duties alone?"

Feeling rather proud of myself, I quickly answered "Yes, sir!"

This caused Apus Major to laugh again. "Ho ho ho! I see you are a confident apprentice. That's very good. You young ones have confidence where us old folks have experience. And now we come to the next of your duties. I believe I heard you have acquired a crystal of Benevolessence. This is true, yes?" Seeing my gesture of agreement, he continued "The essence of mortal gratitude. You must offer it to the Great World Tree, Yggdrasil, who shelters us with Her nurturing boughs from atop the Observatory. I believe she will soon bear fruit at last. Go now, and do as I have instructed."

Giving one last gesture of respect, I took my leave. As I climbed the unnecessary amount of stairs, I thought about what Apus Major had said. Is Yggdrasil really so close to bearing Her fruits, as the legends said?

Once I finally reached the very top, I quickly knelt in front of the Tree and held the Benevolessence above my head. I watched as the crystal floated out my hands and got absorbed by the Tree, causing the Tree to shine a brilliant gold light for a few seconds.

"Behold, Michael…" said Aquila behind me. I stood up and turned around towards him. "Is Yggdrasil, to whom we offer the Benevolessence we gather, not truly beautiful?"

I nodded in agreement and added, "She is even more beautiful when She glows.

I noticed Aquila began staring at Yggdrasil deep in thought. "Gathering and offering up Benevolessence is the most sacred duty with which we Celestrians are charged. I trust you will perform your duties well, Michael, Guardian of Angel Falls."

"You can count on me, Master" I said.

As I began to climb down the stairs, which I have grown to hate, Aquila called to me one last time. "I have been thinking, Michael, Guardian of Angel Falls…"

I looked at him and asked, "Yes?"

"To address you as 'Guardian of Angel Falls' is both convoluted and inconvenient. You will henceforth allow me to use this form of address only when formality dictates, understood?" I quickly agreed. "Good," he said. "It is well that you succumb to my recommendation so quickly, my pupil. As you are well aware, the law forbids a Celestrian to oppose a superior. Now, go to Apus Major and tell him of the successful completion of your task."

Having traversed the staircases again, I once more found myself before Apus Major. "Well done, Michael," he exclaimed. "And how did the mighty Yggdrasil appear to you?"

"She was a true sight to behold. When I gave Her the Benevolessence, She had the brightest glow I had ever seen from Her."

Apus Major nodded. "She was fiercely aglow?" I nodded. "Ho ho ho! It seems the time may soon be upon us. As I am sure you are aware, it is our duty as Celestrians' to tend to the mighty Yggdrasil until such time as She bears fruit. It is to this end that Guardians watch over mortal kind and gather Benevolessence." He smiled. "And now, Michael, Guardian of Angel Falls, I believe you know what you must do next. You are to return to the Protectorate and gather Benevolessence…this time without Aquila to accompany you. Make ready, and then speak with female Celestrian who stands guard over the great portal in the floor below. May all the bodies of the heavens watch over you, Michael, Guardian of Angel Falls."

"Yes, Sir!" I exclaimed. I then turned around and happily _flew_ down the rest of tower to the room with the portal. Wasting no time, I leapt into the portal and landed in Angel Falls, immediately looking for people to help out.

Almost immediately, I ran into the local stray dog. Again, I wondered why animals could see us, but I stopped thinking about it, as the dog was trying to get me to look at a something on the ground. Looking closer, I found a golden ring in the grass. Thinking that somebody had probably lost this and was looking for it, I put it into my pocket for later. "Thanks, boy." The dog barked in return, rolling on his back. Smiling, I rubbed the dog's belly for a minute, and went on my way.

Afterwards, I wandered into a horse stable and found the farmer sleeping on a pile of hay. While looking around, I heard the farmer mutter, "Gutta clen da puh."

It took me a second to realize what he meant, but when I did, I wasn't happy about it. I looked around and found a shovel. Rolling up my sleeves , I grumbled, "You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me." The worst part was I had nowhere to put what I shoveled except – wait for it – my bag.

When I finished, the farmer woke up and said, "Ah! I fell asleep. Now I'll be late for dinner because I still have to clean up all of this sh-." He stopped when he saw that all the mess had disappeared. When he returned to his senses, he exclaimed, "It must have been the guardian, Michael. He must have known how much I wanted a new horse and helped me show my wife I could handle the horse we already have. Thank you, Michael!" He then glowed brightly and a crystal of Benevolessence flew from him into my hands.

"Um…sure. Well, I got Benevolessence and that's all that matters." I exited the stable, emptying my bag into the lake, before heading towards the local church, hoping to both find plenty of people to help in there and to remove whatever was left of the unholy substance that was in my bag. When I entered the church, I saw only two people inside: the priest and an old woman who was praying real hard for something.

I moved closer to her so I could hear what she was saying. "Please help me find my lost ring. It was given to me as a wedding ring from my late husband. It means so much to me and I need it back or I might die from shame." I felt bad for her at first, but then I remembered the ring the dog pointed out to me earlier and I pulled it out of my pocket, slipping it into the woman's own pocket. She paused when she noticed the sudden change in weight in her pocket and stuck her hand into it. Pulling out her hand, she was amazed to see, in her hand, her no-longer-lost ring. "Where did it come from? Michael must have heard my plea for help, found my ring and returned it to me. Thank you, Michael!" She then began to glow brightly and produced another piece of Benevolessence, which I proceeded to pick up and put in my cleansed bag.

Rather content with myself, I exited the church to find that the sun had set and night had fallen. Something to my left then caught my eye and I turned towards it. There, standing on an island in the lake, looking at the waterfall, was Aquila. I walked towards him, catching his attention. "Good evening, Master. For what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

Aquila turned towards me. "I expected that I would see you here, Michael. I am currently on my rounds throughout the Protectorate, and I thought I would see how you are faring by yourself." Aquila then pointed out something on the other side of the lake. "See over there? There's a spirit of a dead mortal. One of the most sacred duties of a Celestrian is to aid spirits stuck in the mortal realm to reach the afterlife. Why don't you go over there and try to help him, but be aware that soothing a troubled soul is no easy feat."

Not concerned in the least about by ability to help the spirit, I walked over to the ghost of a man and said, "Hello, Sir. Can I help you?"

The man turned towards me and loudly exclaimed, "Thank goodness! Someone finally noticed me. Yes, you can help me. Can you tell me why everyone I know is ignoring me?"

"Well, putting it bluntly, you're dead."

"Then how can you see me? Are you Michael, our guardian?"

"Yes, actually, I am."

"Oh. Well, there you go. I feel better knowing my friends just weren't being jerks. Thanks for your help. See 'ya later." With that, he started glowing brighter than anything Michael had seen yet, and rose into the sky until he disappeared in a flash of extremely bright light, leaving a very large, bright piece of Benevolessence.

"That wasn't that hard," I decided.

"That was a…unique situation," said Aquila. "But never mind. You got a powerful piece of Benevolessence, so you should back to Yggdrasil post haste. I will continue my rounds in the Protectorate." Suddenly, a bright golden train flew across the sky, "The Starflight Express..." murmured Aquila. "Indeed, it has been unusually active as of late." He turned back to me. "I have changed my mind. I shall accompany you to the Observatory after all, Michael."

Back at the Observatory, Aquila told me he had important business to discuss with Apus Major and told me to quickly see Yggdrasil. Climbing the Observatory, I was too excited to even care about the giant staircases that I had to climb. When I got there, I was very surprised to see that Aquila and Apus Major were already there.

"Well met, Michael!" Aquila exclaimed once he noticed my arrival. "Truly, you have chosen a most fortuitous moment to join us. Behold Yggdrasil. She is ready to burst into bloom with all the Benevolessence we have offered up to her."

My excitement peaked at this point. "Truly?" I asked. I noticed the Tree was glowing softly.

"Ho ho ho!" laughed Apus Major. "Yes, she is but a hair's breadth now from bearing fruit. 'Fyggbloom hails the opening of the heavenly gates, and sets the Celestrians on the path to salvation…'"

"'...And lo, it shall be in the celestial carriage that we, the chosen custodians, journey unto the Realm of the Almighty.'" Aquila finished the legend and turned to me. "It is time, Michael. Offer up the Benevolessence you have gathered unto mighty Yggdrasil. Do so, and She will surely bear fruit at long last."

My heart raced as I stepped forward and offered up all of my Benevolessence to the Tree. As Yggdrasil absorbed it, She began to glow furiously – brighter than anyone of us had ever seen her glow and much brighter than that of a passing spirit. Gold energy flowed from the roots, through the trunk, across the branches, and burst through the leaves in a bright golden color. On Her branches bloomed seven shining fruits, and I heard gasps from all around me – every Celestrian present in the Observatory had come to witness this spectacle.

"Behold!" cried Apus Major. "The sacred Fyggs bloom!" A piercing whistle echoed throughout the tower, and from up above, the Starflight Express soared towards the top of the tower. "And the celestial chariot appears…praise be! All is as it was foretold!"

As he finished speaking, the Starflight landed atop the Observatory. This was it – The moment we had all been waiting for for all these years. But, as we started approaching the engine, the tower started shaking violently and a massive purple beam of energy shot up from below and tore right through the Starflight Express, knocking it from the tower to the ground far below us. More beams tore through the tower, blasting the seven Fyggs off of their branches and throwing them down with the Starflight.

As more beams continued shooting through the tower, I was knocked off of my feet and I had to grab onto the stairs to keep from falling. For once, I was grateful for their existence.

Through all the madness, I was able to hear Apus Major cry out, "What is happening? Were we…deceived?"

Suddenly, the Observatory rocked especially violently, I was blinded by an extremely close flash of purple, and I heard Aquila yell out my name.

When I was able to see again, I was confused at first about why the Observatory was rising into the sky so quickly. Then it hit me.

"Shit!" That was all that I said as I fell towards the Protectorate at such speeds that my wings were torn off and my halo disappeared. As I continued accelerating downwards, I saw the lake of Angel Falls speeding towards me. Then it hit me.

* * *

**So, there's the first chapter of my story. What do you think of it so far? If you couldn't tell, this is based of _Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky_, which is one of my personal favorite games.**

**If anyone had noticed a large amount of changes in this chapter since I uploaded it, that's because I forgot to make a few revisions before I uploaded, but don't worry, the rest of the chapters should be better.**

**If you like the story, please review, favorite, and follow. The next chapter will be up as soon as I get a chance to work on my final revisions.**

**Until next time, DScribbleF**


	2. Chapter 2: Grounded

**Hello everyone. Here's the second chapter of the story.**

**It would have been up yesterday, but FanFiction is having a problem uploading documents right now. Just getting this up was a hassle.**

**Anyways, thanks to the people who favorited, followed, and reviewed after the first chapter. It means a lot to me. **

**That's all I have to say, so enjoy Chapter Two.**

**Disclaimer:**

**Dragon Quest IX is the rightful property of Square Enix and I own nothing in this story except my original characters.**

* * *

_Chapter Two: Grounded_

(Michael's POV)

It's been three days since the incident happened, and I'm still confused about what had just happened. It's for this question that I have spent two-and-a-half days standing in front of Angel Falls' guardian statue thinking. That and my legs have grown really stiff from not moving.

There was so much to think about what had transpired over the past few days. When I first woke up after falling, I noticed my wings and halo were both gone. Now trust me, that in itself is weird, but what I found even weirder was Erinn, who had found me unconscious in the lake, and everyone else in town, could actually see me.

That fact right there disturbed me a bit, actually. It was one of the sacred lessons taught to Celestrians that mortals can never see or hear a Celestrian. But now they can see me. Why?

Beyond that little fact, I also thought of Aquila, Apus Major, and the other Celestrians who were in Observatory that night. Had others fallen with me, or was I the only one to suffer such a fate?

It was while thinking this that the carving on the base of the statue caught my eye again and I smirked while reading it: 'Michael, Guardian of Angel Falls.' This led me to think back to three days ago, when I had watched two boys from the village, Ivor and Hugo, arguing over the inscription. Ivor, who was the mayor's son and a troublemaker, kept insisting that it hadn't always said Michael, but actually used to say Aqui-something. Hugo, on the other hand, claimed that it had said Michael for as long as he could remember.

That day, a little boy had prayed that someone teach Ivor a lesson for being such a meanie to everyone else. I happily complied and smacked him upside the head. I was going to do it anyway since he said right in front of me that he didn't believe in the Guardians.

Alas, that was a different time. Now, I have nothing but my thoughts to keep me entertained. Actually, Ivor's been rather quiet as of late…

"Hey, it's that Michael character that turned up just after the earthquake the other day."

Speak of the devil…

I turned around, already annoyed with Ivor's condescending tone, and saw Ivor and Hugo walking up the hill where the statue rests. "Oi! Wakey, wakey!" Ivor shouted to me. "What are you doing there, staring off into space?"

I wasn't planning on answering him anyway, but before I could even get a chance to ignore him, Ivor continued speaking, ignoring me instead. "I don't know what Erinn thinks she's doing bothering with the likes of him. He won't tell us where he's from, his clothes are all weird…I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him!" If only I had wings…

"I bet it's his name that's got Erinn so keen." Hugo had decided to join the one-sided conversation. "It is the same as our village Guardian's, after all."

At this, Ivor snorted. "Hah! I doubt it's even his real name. I bet he's just some no-good wandering minstrel taking on a Guardian's name to get a free lunch." He turned back to me, not that I cared anymore. "Well, listen to this, oddball! I won't let you get away with any funny business on my watch."

"Yeah, watch your step!" Hugo teased. "Ivor doesn't like Erinn giving all her attention to you." I choked back a laugh at that.

Ivor spun towards Hugo after and yelled at him. "Shut up, you idiot! Why would you say that?" Then something behind Hugo caught his attention. "Uh-oh!"

Erinn was walking up the hill to join us. "What's going on?" she asked. "Why do you guys keep bothering Michael?"

Ivor suddenly became very flustered, a fact that wasn't lost on anybody, especially me. "Er…hi, Erinn! Nothing's going on. Just teaching Michael here a few village rules. Anyway, we were just leaving. Come on, Hugo." They both ran down the hill and across the bridge over the lake. I couldn't help but laugh at Ivor's obvious crush on Erinn.

Erinn watched them go. "I don't know why Ivor's so full of himself these days," she murmured. "He never used to be like that." Turning back to me, she said, "Anyway, you look like you're feeling better now." She then looked around nostalgically. "Coming up here reminds me of when I found you up here." She glanced across the lake. "It was surprising, to say the least. You must have gotten caught up in the earthquake and fallen from the top of the waterfall. You're lucky you survived…" Thinking about it, I could probably credit my survival to the fact that Celestrians have stronger bodies than the mortals. While I was thinking this, Erinn turned back to me. "Anyway, I'm heading home. There's nothing more to do at the inn for now. Enjoy your time outside, but don't overdo it, okay? I'll see you back at the house."

After watching her leave, I turned back to the statue, gave one last prayer for the safety for my fellow Celestrians, then slowly limped over to Erinn's house (My legs were still stiff).

When Erinn heard me enter, she turned away from the stove where she was working and addressed me. "Oh! Hello, Michael," she said. "You're back sooner than I expected. I'm preparing dinner at the moment, so could you please come back in a little while? Since you seem to have mostly recovered from your fall, why don't you go for a nice walk around the village and say hello to everyone?" I agreed with her and returned to the outside.

However, I didn't say hello to anybody. I was fully aware no one wanted to talk with me, so I happily ignored all of them. Many of them thought that I was the source of all the bad luck that the village had had since the earthquake – including the increased monster threat around the village and the landslide that blocked the nearby mountain pass. Not wanting any problems, I just walked around aimlessly.

As I passed Mayor Litlun's house, I heard Ivor arguing with his father. Interested, I paused outside the window to listen.

"Isn't it about time you did something useful with yourself rather than just hanging about the place causing trouble?" interrogated the mayor. "You'd do well to take a leaf out of Erinn's book. She puts in a lot of hard work at the inn, that girl."

Mentioning Erinn seemed to have touched one of Ivor's nerves, much to my humor. "Huh! What's Erinn got to do with it? I am trying to find something I want to do, anyway. And when I figure out what that is, I'll work my socks off! Probably…"

Shaking my head, I decided to head back to Erinn's. Dinner was probably ready, and I was looking forward to another one of Erinn's amazing meals. Also, I was really hungry.

When I walked in, Erinn happily greeted me. "Hello again, Michael. I've just finished supper. You look like you enjoyed your walk. I bet you're tired though, so how about we all eat than you can go to bed?"

"That sounds good," I replied. After helping her set the table, all three of us (Don't forget Flinn) ate a delicious dinner. When we had finished, I helped Erinn clean up the kitchen, then when upstairs and partook in this activity that the mortals call 'sleep.' Celestrians don't normally rest as enthusiastically as the humans do, but I found it interestingly refreshing.

The next morning, I was woken up by someone knocking softly on my bedroom door. "Michael, are you up? It's me, Erinn."

"I – _yawn –_ am now." I'm starting to see why mortals enjoy sleep.

"Good, because Ivor's here, and he's got something or another he wants to talk to you about. He knows you're here, so I can't very well turn him away. Just give him a few minutes of you time, okay?"

After hearing here footsteps recede, I put my hand on my face and groaned. "Great."

Heading downstairs, I saw Ivor waiting nervously in the doorway. "Hey, Michael," he said. "Don't look so surprised. There's something I want to talk to you about, that's all. We can't talk about it here, though. Please come outside for a moment."

Once we left the house, we went around to the side of the house that didn't have any windows. "What do you want?" I asked him, not really in the mood for all of this drama.

"So, here's the thing," he began. "You've heard about how the pass has been blocked by a landslide, right? Well, that pass is a lifeline here in Angel Falls. We're totally cut off if we can't use it. It's a real problem for Eri- a real problem for everyone, I mean."

I smiled at his little slip-up.

"So, I was thinking: what better time for Ivor to come to rescue?"

My smile was immediately knocked off by the implied facepalm that appeared on my face.

"I'm going to clear the landslide and make it passable again. I know Erinn will be pleased as well. There's just one hitch with my perfect plan. Since the earthquake, there have been lots more monsters about, and it's pretty dangerous to leave the village now."

I had a bad feeling about where this was going…

"That's where you come in."

I knew it!

"I was thinking that maybe you could tag along. You minstrel types are generally pretty handy in a scrap, right?"

Oh, yeah. Everyone thought I was a minstrel because of my Celestial garb. Typical.

"Can I count on you to help me out?" Ivor concluded.

After taking a minute to contemplate the pros and cons of his plan, I finally answered, "Sure." I needed to get out of the village for a little while anyway. Being stuck here with nothing to do was getting really boring.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed. "Right then, you lead the way, Michael. It's easy enough to find. You just head out of the village and follow the road east. Oh, yeah, and let's keep this to ourselves, okay? We don't want everyone sticking their beaks in."

I agreed, quickly ran upstairs, grabbed my sword and bag, and headed towards the exit of the village with Ivor. However, standing by the arch at the edge of town was Hugo. "Here comes another lamb to the slaughter!" he said. "You can't go out there, you know. There are monsters about."

"Stop trying to scare people!" Ivor ordered. "We're leaving the village and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

At that moment, Hugo realized that I was standing there with Ivor. "W-wait a minute!" he said. "What are you doing with Michael, Ivor?"

"He's coming with me to help clear the landslide and stop any monsters that get in our way," Ivor explained.

"Oh, that makes everything better then. Traveling with the strange outsider with the weapon that isn't on the best terms with you into dangerous territory. That's totally safe."

"Hey!" I yelled.

"Just let us by, would you? Hold us up any longer and there'll be trouble!" threatened Ivor.

Finally, Hugo ceded, "G-go, then. I'm not stopping you." He moved aside and we walked out of the village. "But if you get tired or hurt, you'll come straight back to the village if you know what's good for you," Hugo yelled after us. "A quick rest should be enough to get your strength back up again. There's no need to be a hero!" If only he knew.

It took an hour to walk all the way to the pass, and during that time, we were attacked by seven groups of monsters: Three Slimes, two Cruelcumbers, a pack of Teeny Sanguini, a Sacksquatch, two Batterflies, a swarm of Drackys, and a Bodkin Archer. Of course, I destroyed all of them instantly with my sword. After their seventh defeat, the rest of the monsters purposely stayed out of our way.

After a while, we finally reached the pass, which was split into three paths. "Finally!" exclaimed Ivor. "We're here at last. The landslide should be around here somewhere."

I didn't really hear him, as something slightly more important had captured my attention. There, lying across the middle path, stood the engine to the Starflight Express, no longer colored gold.

Ivor seemed to have noticed that I was no longer with him, so he walked back to me. "What are you staring at?" Obviously, he couldn't see it. "There's just a bunch of fallen trees from the earthquake. I don't get what's so fascinating about it. You can be properly weird sometimes, you know that?" He turned back to the left path. "The landslide's this way. I'll go on ahead!"

After looking at it for another few seconds, I managed to turn away and follow Ivor up the path.

* * *

(No One's POV)

As Michael followed Ivor towards the landslide, a bright pink ball, unnoticed by both of them, flew out of trees and in front of the train. "That was weird. It was almost as if he could see the Starflight Express…"

* * *

(Michael's POV)

Ivor and I were standing in front of the landside, both surprised at how big it really was. "This is worse than I thought!" said Ivor. "Is this it? But it's so much bigger than I thought… You and I will never be able to shift this on our own. Stupid landslide. And I was all ready to see the look on Dad's face when I came back to the village a hero…" He then punched the dirt while crying. "Waaaah!" I just stood there, shaking my head.

"Hellooo!" a voice suddenly called out from the other side. "Is somebody there? Hellooo! If you're there, say something!"

We both jumped from the surprise of hearing someone else out here. "Huh?" Ivor said. "It sounds like there's someone on the other side!" I gave him a look that screamed 'No, duh!' Ignoring me, he yelled back "Hey! I'm over here. It's me, Ivor from Angel Falls. No doubt you've heard of me!" I suddenly felt a powerful desire to strangle him.

"Jings!" replied the other voice. "Someone from Angel Falls! We're soldiers sent from Stornway. King Schott sent us to clear the landslide."

"Blimey?" He turned to me. "The King of Stornway must really rate Angel Falls to bother helping us out like that."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I suppose that means we're not really needed here, then."

"Huh!" exclaimed Ivor. "Now I wish we hadn't bothered coming all this way." Finally, something we could both really agree on.

As we turned to leave, one of the soldiers called out, "Wait! There's an urgent matter we need to ask you about."

We both stopped and I yelled back, "What is it?"

"Do you know if a lass called Patty made her way to your village just after the earthquake? She works at the inn in Stornway, but she took off one day for Angel Falls and we've heard nothing of her since."

"Patty?" Ivor repeated, looking at me? I could only shrug in reply. "Nope, doesn't ring any bells," Ivor said. "Why would she come to Angel Falls anyway?"

I swear the soldier's voice sounded like it shrugged as he replied, "Aye, well, rumor has it that she was on her way there through the Hexagon. The path there's been blocked, too, so we've no way of finding out where she is."

Ivor turned to me. "The Hexagon?" he said incredulously. "That old ruin we had to go traipsing all the way through before this pass was built? No one goes there anymore. It's jam-packed with monsters and falling apart so badly it might come down on your head!" Turning back towards the soldiers, he replied, "There's no way a woman would go through there alone. The rumors must be wrong."

I somehow managed to hear a sigh from behind the wall. "Alright, well, perhaps you could just relay to your village the fact that the road will be open again soon. An if you could ask around about Patty while you're there, that'd be grand."

"No problemo!" Ivor responded. "Just leave it to me. You can always count on Ivor!" He turned to me and said, "Come on, Michael. Home time! I reckon they'll be pretty pleased to hear the news." On that note, Ivor and I turned around and left the pass, sparing one last glance towards the downed engine as I passed it.

Halfway through our walk back to the village, we were jumped by a Sacksquatch. It tackled me in the stomach, which winded me and knocked me over, but thankfully it didn't do cause a serious injury. Quickly getting back up, I drew my sword and saw that Ivor had drawn his, too. Ignoring the pain I was feeling, I ran at the menacing bag of sand and slashed it right down the middle, causing it to explode into purple dust, leaving behind a small pile of coins, which I pocketed.

Of course, now there was the problem of my now heavily bruised torso. It would be a major pain (literally and figuratively) to head all the way back to Angel Falls in my condition, so I had to come up with something fast because it was getting dark. Thinking back, I remembered a healing spell some time earlier. Acting quickly, I placed my hand on my abdomen and began saying the spell.

As I finished, I looked down and saw that all the bruises had gone away completely. "Whoa! You know magic?" shouted Ivor, surprised.

"Yeah, a bit." I replied. "Let's hurry back to the village – The sun has almost set completely."

When we finally returned to the village, the sun was barely over the horizon. Ivor headed straight home to tell his father the news and I followed. When we had finished explaining what happened, the mayor responded, "I see. So the soldiers from Stornway should have the pass cleared for us before long?"

"That's right," Ivor said. "Everyone will be so pleased to hear the news. Ivor saves the day, eh?" I sighed. Ivor clearly wasn't as observant of his father's suspiciously calm demeanor as I was.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Litlun suddenly yelled, causing Ivor to jump and me to wince. "You were foolish to go all the way out there, just the two of you. Utterly foolish!"

Confused and flustered, Ivor stuttered, "B-but! Why are you so angry? If we hadn't gone to the landslide, you'd never have known it was about to be cleared."

"So what?" replied Litlun angrily. "If I didn't know now, I'd have found out soon enough. Knowing a little bit sooner is hardly worth risking your life for. That's why I'm angry. That's why you're foolish."

"…Gah! Fine!…" Ivor said. Then he snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah, there was something else. Something I heard from one of the soldiers. They want us to find some girl called Patty who went missing on her way here."

At this point, I have been silently walking back towards the door in order to leave the conversation, but it seems my plans were thwarted as I suddenly heard footsteps outside and Erinn ran into the room. "Wait a minute!" she yelled. "Is that true?"

Ivor nearly had a heart attack as Erinn suddenly joined our conversation. "Erinn! What are you doing here?"

Erinn angrily retorted, "What do you think? I'm here because I heard you whisked Michael off on some silly adventure!"

"I was not 'whis–'" I began to protest, but Erinn kept speaking.

"Anyway, never mind that. Is it true that Patty from Stornway has gone missing?"

"Ah, yes," Litlun said. "You're from Stornway originally, aren't you, Erinn? Do you know the woman?"

Erinn suddenly became nervous and sullen. "I seem to remember my dad talking about someone called Patty from his days in Stornway. Oh, dear! Maybe she didn't know he'd passed away and she was coming here to see him." I could see that she still missed her father as she spoke, but it quickly passed.

"Hmm…" said Litlun. "Well, I can understand everyone's concerns, but we can't very well send off a search party with no lead to go on."

"Actually," Ivor added, having recovered from the series shocks to his system, "the soldier said something about how she might've been on her way here through the Hexagon."

Litlun's eyes widened. "Is that so? Well, even if that is the case, we still can't be of any help. The Hexagon is far too dangerous nowadays." He turned to Erinn and asked, "Erinn, why don't you take Michael home now? Try not to worry her too much." Turning back to his son with a dangerous glare, he finished, "I'd appreciate a bit of privacy so I can talk some sense into this pig-headed son of mine."

"T-there's no need for that, Dad!" Ivor sputtered; but as he had said, as Erinn and I left the house, Litlun began a lengthy and scarring scolding against Ivor.

When we returned to the house, Erinn led me upstairs so we could talk. "I was so worried when I'd heard you'd left the village, Michael," she began. "You seem to be unscathed, though. You're obviously a lot tougher than I though." I gladly accepted her praise. "Speaking of which, um…I wondered if I could ask you a favor, Michael."

"Of course," I answered. "What do you need, Erinn?"

"You see," she began, "I'm quite worried about all this talk of Patty going missing. So, I was wondering if you could-" She then stopped and shook her head. "Oh, never mind! The Hexagon is really far too dangerous. I couldn't possibly ask that much of you." She sighed. "I'm obviously worried about Patty, but it's far too dangerous to go off to the Hexagon looking for her. All we can do is pray to the Almighty to keep her safe.

Then she bowed her head and began praying right there. "Guardian Michael, please watch over Patty and see that she comes to no harm." I suddenly felt really uneasy and excused myself outside to get some fresh air.

I soon found myself before my Guardian statue once again. In the silence of the night, I was able to hear the prayers of the village in my head. Everyone in Angel Falls was praying for the same thing: for Patty and her safety.

I knelt in front of the statue. _What am I supposed to do?_ I prayed. _Help me, Almighty, please. What can I do to help all these people? To return to the Observatory? To find Patty? And what of the Starflight?_ The Starflight! I had completely forgotten about it in the excitement of earlier. Maybe I could use it to return to the Observatory! Oh, but I should really make sure everything is fine in the village before I leave. In that case, I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

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**So, how was this chapter? I hope you liked it. If you see any errors or typos, please feel free to message me. I want my work to be as perfect as possible for you guys.**

**If you like the story, please review, favorite, and follow. The next chapter will be up eventually.**

**Until next time, DScribbleF**


	3. Chapter 3: Inncredible Inncidences

**By the Almighty, this chapter is a beast. It's almost double the length of the last chapter, but I couldn't find a good place to break it.**

**This chapter has everything. Action. Drama. Humor. Hellos. Goodbyes. Touching moments. Annoying moments. You name it.**

**It probably would have been finished sooner, but this wonderful class called IB Physics SL decided to give me a 99 page practice test for homework, and it took me forever to finish it.**

**At this point, I've gotten some helpful reviews, so I've decided to do what I've seen some other authors do, and reply to each of them before I start the story.**

**Reviews**

**princessdaisy01: Thanks for your encouragement. I'm happy that my story has you so enthralled.**

**Casamora: Thanks for the compliment. I am really trying to keep this as close to the game as possible. I know the type of stories that you are talking about, and I kind of feel the same way about them.**

**Luckenhaft: I'm happy that my story makes you laugh. Thanks for the heads up on the typo, and don't worry about my update schedule. It should never be too long between each chapter. Also, 'Jings' is a Scottish slang used to express surprise. Basically, 'Oh my God' or 'Holy s-t!'**

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_Chapter Three: Inncredible Inncidences_

"See you later, Michael," Erinn said as I left her house the next morning. "Don't push yourself too hard, will you?"

I smiled inwardly as I replied, "Don't worry, Erinn. I won't do anything stupid."

After stopping by the village store and stocking up on supplies, I quickly headed out of the village, following a second path that led to the ruins. It was a fairly warm day, but when I stepped into the clearing of the Hexagon, the temperature suddenly dropped to a more chilling temperature.

The Hexagon, no doubt at one time a magnificent piece of architecture, lay in complete disrepair. The once-standing archways before the entrance had all fallen into dangerous pools of poison, and whole sections of the building had collapsed into itself. Needless to say, I was very careful as I gingerly stepped into the stone structure.

I walked straight through the first room until I reached a door that had a large slab of stone blocking it. As I moved forward to inspect the stone, I noticed that it had something written on it: 'Path ahead sealed due to beast-related fatalities.' As I finished reading, I suddenly felt something's presence behind me.

Slowly turning around, I saw a ghost – A ghost I knew well: Edwinn, Erinn's father. He turned and walked away, saying nothing. I followed after him, sure he was trying to show me something. We entered into a side passage which I had ignored earlier, and he walked up to an odd statue that stood at the end. Then a deeply depressed sound reached my ears. "On the…back of…this statue…" Then Edwinn simply disappeared, leaving me alone with the statue, which I quickly examined. On the back of the statue's neck, I found a button, which I pressed without hesitation. Everything suddenly started shaking as the sound of stone scraping against stone was heard back in the main passage. I hurried back, avoiding newly fallen stone, and discovered that the large stone slab had slid away from the door.

In the next chamber there were two staircases that led downwards. The left one came to a dead-end, so I went back and took the right staircase. As I moved through the next few passages, I defeated a few monsters that got in my way, including a few Mecha-mynahs, Firespirits, Spirits, and even a rare Bag o' laughs. I also found a leather shield, which I really needed, because the monsters I was encountering were getting stronger.

I eventually reached a large chamber filled with piles of fallen rubble. As I approached the center of the room, I came found a young woman struggling to escape a pile of rocks that had fallen on her leg. I quickly ran over to her to help.

"Oh, my – I never expected to bump into anyone all the way down here!" she said. "Hey, sweetie, you couldn't be a hero and shift some of this rubble for me, could ya? I'm not badly hurt or anything, but I'm kinda stuck here, ya know? And I don't fancy being around when that beast comes back."

As I was carefully trying to remove the rubble, I paused for a moment and asked, "Wait. What beast…?"

Before the woman could answer me, though, I felt the entire ruins tremble and I heard something heavy land nearby where I was standing. Looking around, I saw a large, dark shape standing in a cloud of dust. "Oh, bother!" the woman said. "It's back!"

As the dust cleared, it revealed the shape of a large, pink-hided, four-legged creäture with green fur and large horns. "What is this thing?" I asked, struggling to stay calm.

"It's a Hexagoon," she told me. "I got trapped trying to run away from this guy and not looking where I was going. Watch your head, sweetie!" I suddenly realized why this whole building was crumbling so quickly: This thing was knocking it down.

Swallowing my fear, I stepped away from the rubble, holding my sword and shield before me. It was my duty to keep this woman safe – No matter the risks.

For a moment, we just stared at each other: It was just me and the Hexagoon. Then I charged at him, slicing it all the way along its side. Rather than roar in pain, as I had expected, though, the Hexagoon snarled in anger and quickly charged at me. I barely managed to get out-of-the-way, but one his horns still managed to cut my arm, causing a sharp pain.

I quickly used a healing spell, then jumped out and slashed at the beast's face, causing a deep gash across its nose. Of course, that really pissed it off, so, instead of charging me again as I had expected, it reared up on its two hind legs and smashed the floor with its humongous feet. The resulting tremors were nothing like what I had experienced before. The shockwave hit me like a wagon and turned my legs to jelly, making it increasingly difficult to dodge the heavy avalanche of debris that plummeted out of the ceiling. Needless to say, it really hurt, and I had to use another healing spell before I could continue.

After what seemed like an eternity filled with cuts, bruises, and healing, I finally managed to strike a critical blow against the Hexagoon's neck. Finally, it roared in pain instead of anger, stumbled backwards, and fell over with one final crash.

Feeling more than a little relieved and proud of myself, I stood before the fallen beast and taunted, "That's what you get for having a stupid name like Hexagoon. Who came up with that, anyway?" Evidently, Ivor's personality was rubbing off on me. I better be careful.

I turned back towards where the woman was, but she was gone. A quick search found her standing straight and tall by the stairs. She clearly had managed to free herself and neglected to tell me while I was fighting for her safety. "You're tougher than you look," she complimented. I was beginning to like this concept of praise.

"Thanks," I managed to reply tiredly.

The woman smiled at me. "Thanks for saving my hide there. You're a doll. Ya know, I managed to shake myself free in all the chaos. So, let's get outta here, huh? Being attacked by monsters is such a drag!"

'_You have no idea,'_ I thought to myself.

We quickly made our way out of the ruins. I really wasn't looking forward to fighting through all the monsters again; but apparently news of my recent defeat of the Hexagoon had spread quickly, as everything we met ran from us like we were death itself, which, from their perspective, I suppose I was.

When we finally emerged from the decrepit structure, the woman turned to me. "Phew!" she said. "We're safe now, I guess. Ya know, I'm just not a dark ruins type of gal! I'm Patty, by the way. I run the inn over in Stornway. And you are?"

"I'm Michael," I told her. "I'm the gua- a wandering minstrel who's staying in Angel Falls for a little while."

Thankfully, Patty didn't notice my mistake, but I think that was because as soon as I mentioned Angel Falls, her eyes suddenly lit up. "Ah! That reminds me," she said. "I've got to get to Angel Falls right away. See ya, sweetie! And thanks a bunch for your help!"

As she headed down the path towards Angel Falls, I took one last look at this terrible excuse of a building. Then I also began heading back towards the village, looking forward to a nice rest when I got back.

When I finally returned to the village half an hour later, I decided to stop by the inn to see if Erinn and Patty were talking with each other. Also, I wanted to know what was so important that it prompted Patty to go through Hexa-Penta-Quadra-Screw it. It barely passes as a triangle at this point.

When I entered, Patty was standing before the front desk, arms crossed before, looking around. "Uh-huh, this is Edwinn's place, alright!" she exclaimed. "No one else knew how to do it quite like he did. The original host with the most!"

"Did you know my father, then?" asked Erinn, who was standing behind the counter, watching the strange woman before her. Her eyes suddenly lit up in understanding. "Oh! You must be Patty! I was so worried about you. I heard that someone called Patty had gone missing on their way here."

"Yup, that's me, honey!" Patty said, smiling brightly. "You were worried, huh? That's sweet. And I can't believe you remembered my name. You were so tiny. So…where's old Edwinn hiding, huh?" She was looking around the inn, as though expecting him to jump out from behind something. Erinn was right: Patty didn't know of Edwinn's fate.

Erinn looked down with an expression that caused part of me to die inside. "Ah," she murmured. "I thought you were probably coming to see him. I'm afraid that he's no longer with us… It was two years ago now…" I could see that she was struggling to not start crying on the spot as she spoke.

To say that it shocked Patty would have been a gross understatement. "Huh? No longer with us…? You mean he's passed away?"

Erinn nodded. "Sadly, yes."

"Wow," Patty said. "I, I can't believe it…so the Inncredible…that's…gee, what does that mean for my old inn, then?" She seemed to have lost her train of thought for a moment. Then I saw something new flash across her eyes. "I guess if Edwinn's gone, that means you're running this place all on your own, huh?"

"Um, well, yes," Erinn said, now becoming confused.

Patty turned away, scanning the room. "It's not the biggest inn in the world, but it's so quaint. I bet the guests feel welcome here than they do in their own homes!"

Erinn smiled at the compliment, but still remained rather confused. "That's very kind of you. I try to do my best to honor my father's memory by keeping the place running smoothly."

Without turning, Patty continued, "Hey, I wouldn't expect anything else from the daughter of the Inncredible Inntertainer, honey!"

This is when the conversation officially lost me. Erinn seemed equally confused. "Um," she began cautiously, "about this 'Inncredible' thing…"

Not seeming to hear, Patty finally turned back towards Erinn. "Hey, I don't suppose you'd wanna give running an inn in Stornway a shot, do ya?"

Two jaws hit the floor, and Patty's wasn't one of them.

"Um…I beg your pardon!" cried Erinn, also lost from the conversation at this point.

"Follow me, honey," Patty ordered, heading into the sole bedroom of the inn. "I've got some stuff to tell you." Noticing me as she walked past, she added "You come along too, Michael. Not really having much of a choice, Erinn and I followed after her.

We gathered around the small table and Erinn asked, "So when Dad was in Stornway, people used to call him the 'Inncredible Inntertainer'?"

"You better believe it, honey!" confirmed Patty. "He was the best of the best! He was only a young guy back then, but he set up his own inn from scratch and totally put his rivals out of business!"

"Goodness!" Erinn said, shocked. "I can't imagine him being like that." I almost nodded in agreement, but stopped myself at the last second: It would have been hard to explain how a strange wandering minstrel knew Erinn's father. Erinn continued: "He always seemed so unadventurous to me, and he said he was happy to run even the smallest of inns as long as we were together."

"Yeah, that's the funny thing…" Patty said. "Why would a guy like Edwinn choose to ship out to a hick town like this?" Erinn and I both remained silent; Erinn had absolutely no idea, and the fact that Patty thought my village was a hick town insulted me. "Well, I guess that's water under the bridge," Patty finally decided. "The thing is, his old place in Stornway is in real trouble right now. We were all kinda hoping that the Inncredible Inntertainer would make a comeback and get things back on track again…" She sighed. "I just can't believe I didn't know he died two whole years ago. I mean, gee! I'm so sorry honey," she added, looking softly at Erinn.

Erinn shook away the excessive sympathy. "Not at all. I'm just sorry that you came all this way for nothing."

"Hey, no apology needed," Patty said, waving it off. "I mean, I got to meet you instead, right? You're coming back with me to Stornway."

As she said that, I noticed Erinn suddenly became incredibly tense. "Um… I don't think that's possible. I have my hands full with this place as it is. And I just find it hard to believe that Dad was some kind of legendary innkeeper."

"Hard to believe?" Patty asked, almost sounding offended. "You can't argue with the facts, honey. And I can see you're a chip off the old block, too. I've got a knack for seeing people's strengths, ya know."

At this point, it seemed that this conversation was starting to make Erinn really distressed. She kept looking around as if trying to find a way out. "Oh, dear," she said, having found one. "It's getting late and I really need to get started on supper. Excuse me." She flew out of her seat and sprinted to the door, but as she reached it, she turned back and yelled back, "And I can't go to Stornway with you, so stop trying to persuade me!" With that, she dashed out of the inn and slammed the door so hard behind her that the building shook in response.

Patty, rather unperturbed by recent events, walked to the doorway and leaned against it. "A stubborn one, huh?" she said to herself. "Don't worry, sweetie, you'll see sense before long!" Then she turned back to me. "Hey…" she said, smiling. "Yeah, I thought I recognized you. You're the guy who helped me out back at the ruins, right?" I honestly found it hard to believe that this woman was so daft that she had forgotten that I was the one who had saved her not three hours ago, but I still nodded in approval. "You know, while you're in the helping mood, honey, you couldn't try to twist Erinn's arm, could you? I can't let that kind of talent go to waste. It'd be good for her too, you know?"

"I'll see what I can do," I said, not really wanting to twist anyone's arms except for Patty's. As I left the inn, I felt that Erinn really did want to go to Stornway. However, I could tell how scared Erinn was about taking such a large move into the unknown.

Stepping off of the bridge near Erinn's house, I found the ghost of Edwinn, facing away from me, blocking the door. "Excuse me, sir," I said to him, causing him to jump in fright.

"Waaah!" he screamed, turning towards me. "You g-gave me a fright! D-don't do that again, will you?

"I won't, sorry," I apologized, trying to hide the pleasure I felt from scaring a ghost of all things. Then I counted down from four. Three… Two… One…

"Wait a minute! You can see me?" Edwinn screamed, again.

"Yup."

"But I'm dead."

"Correct again."

After processing this new information, Edwinn seemed to calm down a little and began looking at me rather curiously. "I had a feeling that you could see me back at the Hexagon, too. That's quite a strange talent you've got there. Sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I'm Erinn's father, Edwinn. I fell ill two years ago and died suddenly. But as you can see, I still haven't managed to leave this mortal realm entirely. And you are?"

"Michael," I responded, much to Edwinn's astonishment.

Edwinn glanced towards the guardian statue, back at me, back at the statue, back at me, back… I think you get the idea. "…Really? R-really?" he stuttered. "B-but…Michael…isn't that…? Aren't you the village Guardian?"

I barely managed to nod in confirmation when we heard a feminine voice yelling from our right. "HEY! HANG ON A MINUTE!" I turned towards the voice to meet a flash of pink and blonde that hit me in the face, knocking me down, dazed.

When my vision cleared back up again, I saw a blonde faerie hovering over me. She had a large pink flower in her hair, an orange ruffled dress, pink wings, and black leggings. And a really upset look on her face. "Um…Ow?" was all I could say. Edwinn seemed equally surprised.

"Oi, watch where you're flapping standing!" the faerie scolded me. "I may be skinny as a rake, but I still need a bit of room for maneuvers! Never mind, I forgive you. Now, old man! What was that rubbish you were just sprouting?"

I hadn't even fully stood up yet when the faerie finished saying this, so it wasn't too surprising that Edwinn was at a loss for words at the sudden interrogation. "I, er…I'm not sure what you mean."

"You were on about Celestrians, right? I wondered the same thing at first, but this mess of a minstrel hardly foots the bill! I don't see a halo, do you? And I don't see any wings, either. Bit odd for a Celestrian, that, wouldn't you say?" I would've protested at this, but, by all lines of reasoning, she had a point.

"I suppose you're right," Edwinn agreed. "Though, while we're on the subject of odd, who and what are you?"

"Ha! Wouldn't you like to know," said the faerie. She looked at the two of us for a moment, and for the first time in a long time, I gave someone the Look. I can't describe what the look looks like. I can only say that it always works. Like now. "…Yes, I suppose you would," the faerie decided. "Then I'd better introduce myself. Wait for it…I am the supreme, stupendous Stella, stunning skipper of the sky-soaring Starflight Express! Ta daa!"

'_So humble,_' I thought '_Wait…_' "YOU'RE the captain of the Starflight Express!?"

"Yes. Do try to keep up," she replied. At this point, Edwinn pretty much just quit the conversation as things had gotten too confusing for him. Even I was having trouble comprehending what was going on. Turning to me, Stella began grilling me for information. "Right then, your turn," she said. "Time to fly your true colors and tell us who you really are. You look like a regular mortal to me, so how come you can see the Starflight Express and ghosts like this old bloke?"

I took a deep breath and explained everything that had happened over the past few days. I talked about the Observatory and Fyggbloom and the energy beams and falling and the mountain pass and the Hexagon and Patty and some annoying faerie that flew into my face. If someone had written everything I had said, I bet it would have taken at least two-and-a-half chapters to get it all down.

"Sounds like a bit of a tall yarn, if you ask me," Stella said when I'd finished. "If you lost your wings and halo, how is it that you can still see ghosts and the like? Bit neither here nor there, isn't it?" I was about to object, but she continued speaking. "I know! If you're a Celestrian, then prove it. Send someone's spirit up to the heavens. You've got nothing to lose, and this old bloke here just happens to be in need of a shove in the righteous direction."

"Wait!" Edwinn said, trying to rejoin the conversation. "Are you talking about me? I'm not exactly happy as I am, but…" He trailed off, unable to fully gather his thoughts.

"Let me guess, you're only a ghost because you've got some unfinished business to put to sleep, right?" Stella asked. Edwinn only nodded. Turning to me, she continued. "Alright then, help this spook here to tie up his loose ends and then send him on his way. Then I'll believe you're a Celestrian, and I might even give you a ride back up to the Observatory on the old Starflight Express. Can't say faerier than that, right?"

I felt a burst of excitement at her words. Finally, a way back to the Observatory! Maybe, if I was lucky, Apus Major would know how to give me back my wings and halo. That, and I could discover what had happened to the rest of the Celestrians, especially Aquila. I happily agreed to Stella's proposition.

"So I'll tag along with you for a while until the job's done," Stella said. "While we're at it, I should probably warn you that I'll be keeping tags on you while I'm tagging along." I agreed and we both turned towards Edwinn, who was once again at a complete loss.

"Well, this is all rather strange," he said.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I replied.

He laughed once. "Still, I appreciate your willingness to help." He looked off into the distance for a moment, and I could see how much his daughter resembled him as he did. "Hmm…" he thought out loud. "I wonder what unfinished business is stopping me from going up to the heavens. I don't suppose…I wonder if it's something to do with that thing I buried behind the inn."

Edwinn became completely lost in thought at this point, so I turned to Stella and asked, "Do you want to go check the back of the inn?"

"Sounds good," Stella agreed. "Let's go!"

When I walked around the inn, I found that the area between the back of the inn and the face of the cliff was much too small for anyone to hide anything. Abandoning that direction, I began inspecting the grassy ledge that hung over the lake. Beneath a large bush, I found a small bump in the ground. Digging with my hands, I found something golden under the dirt. A few more minutes of digging and using my sword as leverage, and I managed to pull up a large golden trophy. Brushing some dirt of the base, I found an inscription, which I read for Stella. "Awarded to Edwinn by HRH King Schott of Stornway for Inncredible achievements in Inntertainment."

"This must be it!" cheered Stella. Putting the trophy in my bag – the inside was bigger than the outside – I quickly ran back to where Edwinn was waiting.

"That's it!" Edwinn exclaimed when I pulled out the trophy. "That's my Inny! Goodness, that takes me back a bit." He smiled, but it slowly faded away as he continued speaking. "The truth is, I hid it away when I came to Angel Falls. I didn't want Erinn to know. And I didn't want to spend my whole time being reminded about Stornway…" He sighed. "Erinn was very weak as a child," he explained. "I came back to live in Angel Falls for her sake. It was what my late wife wanted – what Erinn's mother wanted. So I brought the poor thing here just after her mother passed away, and I hid the trophy where no one could find it. I wonder how she'll react when she sees it." He sighed once more and turned away from us, clearly done telling his tell.

With Inny in hand, Stella and I entered Erinn's house. After a few minutes of searching, we found her up in her bedroom, pacing back and forth. She looked up as Stella and I entered, though she could only see me. "What's up, Michael? She asked. "What's that trophy you've got there?" I just walked up to her and handed her the Inny. I watched as she read the inscription, mouthing the words. "An award for being an Inncredible Inntertainer…from the King of Stornway? To my father? I don't believe it! Patty's story was all true!" Putting the Inny down, she continued. "I don't understand, though. Why would Dad have given up all that to come here to sleep Angel Falls? What in the world was he thinking of?"

"I may be able to shed a little light on that," came a voice behind us. All three of us turned to see Flinn standing in the doorway.

"Grandpa?" Erinn asked, clearly surprised.

Flinn walked up to her and began explaining. "Edwinn made me promise not to say anything, so I've kept it a secret all these years, but I don't see that it matters now." He sighed. Clearly, sighing was a very common practice in this family. "Dear Erinn, you must remember how sickly you were as a child. Your poor mother was the same. In the normal course of things, you would have become sicker and sicker as you got older. Eventually, you would have died. We lost your mother at a young age to the same fate."

"But I'm perfectly healthy," Erinn protested. "I hardly even remember being sick anymore."

"That's because you were brought up on water from the falls here in the village," Flinn replied. "Angel Falls' water is famous for making people healthy and curing their ills."

Erinn put her head down as understanding washed over her. "So…what you're saying is that Dad gave up his inn in Stornway and came back here for my sake?"

"That's right," Flinn said. "Saving his daughter was far more important to him than his own ambitions."

Erinn looked back up with a sad look on her face. "But that's terrible!" she cried. "I stood in the way of my father and his dreams."

"He knew you'd feel that way," Flinn said. "That's why he didn't want you to know. But you're mature enough now to be told the truth."

Erinn nodded with her eyes focused on a distant point. "You know, I always wondered why he sometimes had that faraway look on his face," she said quietly. "Now I know…he did all that for me…" She quickly came back to her current setting and turned to me. "Um, Michael," she said. "It looks like I'm going to be leaving for Stornway. I don't know if I can be of any help to Patty, but I have to at least give it a try!" With her signature smile back on her face, she left the room, with Flinn following right behind her. Stella and I left a moment later and found Edwinn standing in the hall.

"You there, granddad?" Stella asked.

"I'm here," Edwinn replied. "I heard everything. I can't believe Erinn is going to follow my ambition in my place. She really has grown up. Now I have no regrets. I know that she'll succeed. She doesn't need me watching over her shoulder." His phantasmal form began to glow softly. "It looks like I'm ready to leave," he said, beginning to rise of the ground. "Thank you so much, my honored Guardian." He closed his eyes, and tilted his head back with a look of pure joy across his face. The glow from his being became unbearably bright and I had to close his eyes. When the glow had faded and I reopened my eyes, Edwinn was gone. He had gone to the heavens.

"He's gone!" Stella exclaimed.

"Really? I couldn't tell from the fact that he was no longer standing there," I replied sarcastically.

She turned to me, gave me a look that only made me smile, and continued talking. "You did it! So you are a Celestrian, after all. Well, a promise is a promise. I'll give you a lift back to the Observatory like we agreed, so say thanks to your lucky stars." She fluttered over to where the being formally known as Edwinn had stood. "Hang on to your horses a minute – shouldn't you be picking up that Benevolessence?"

My heart skipped a beat. "What…Benevolessence?" There was nothing but an empty floor under where Stella was flying.

"You can flapping see it, can't you?" Stella asked, almost pleading. "Don't tell me you can't see Benevolessence anymore!"

"I told you already: I don't see anything over there." Stella put her hand on her forehead and sighed. "Now I'm starting to wonder again…are you really a Celestrian, or are you pulling my chain?" She picked something off the ground, and handed it to me. I could feel the crystal in my hands, but I could not see it, which gave me a small headache.

Putting it into my bag and out of mind, I simply replied, "It doesn't matter. I need to sleep." With that, I went into my room, fell onto my bed, and fell asleep, leaving Stella by herself to find a place to sleep.

* * *

A few days later, the soldiers from Stornway had finished clearing the mountain pass. Erinn, Patty, Flinn, Stella, and I were all standing outside of Erinn's house. Ivor was off to the side, pacing back and forth with an angry expression of his face.

"I'll miss you, Grandpa," Erinn said. "You take care of yourself, won't you?"

Flinn smiled. "You, too. It'll be hard work making a living in a new town. Make sure you don't go working yourself sick."

Patty smiled and put her hand on Erinn's shoulder reassuringly. "I know you're worried about your little girl, but I'm gonna be around to help her out, so you just relax, okay?"

Flinn nodded. "That's good to know, Patty. You've helped to set an old man's mind at ease."

Erinn now turned towards Ivor, who was still fuming in the distance. "Ivor! Can I have a word?" she called.

Ivor turned towards us. "What do you want to talk to me for?" he nearly hissed. "You're leaving, so you obviously don't care." Poor kid was terribly heartbroken.

For a moment, it looked like Erinn came to the same conclusion, but it quickly passed. "I was wondering if you might take over the inn here for me. I don't have the heart to close it down, you see. You'll do it, won't you? I know I can count on you!"

I could see Ivor's anger melt away in an instant, but he tried to stay upset when he gave his answer. "I suppose I'll do it, but only to get Dad off my back with his nagging about me finding a job. I'm not doing it for you! Anyway, I bet I'll be so good at innkeeping that I'll soon trump your place over in Stornway!"

Erinn smiled. "And I wish you luck with it. Not that I'll let you get the better of me, of course!"

"Oh, yeah?" Ivor asked. "Sounds like we've got a competition on our hands!"

Erinn laughed and then turned to me. "Michael, I can't thank you enough for what you've done. It's amazing how you managed to find Dad's hidden trophy like that. You really are a mystery. I wouldn't be surprised if you turned out to be our Guardian after all…" She shook her head. "Ha ha! Listen to me and my wild imagination! I suppose you'll be heading off to your hometown now, won't you? If your journey brings you through Stornway, make sure you come and stay at my new inn, won't you?"

"Of course, Erinn," I agreed, smiling. "I can't wait to see how successful you will become."

Erinn smiled back. "I'd better get going, then. Goodbye, everyone. And thank you for everything!" She looked to Patty, and they turned to leave the village. I smiled when I saw that Patty's hand was still resting on Erinn's shoulder. I knew Erinn would be successful. As I stood there watching them leave, Flinn went back inside, and Ivor headed off to tell his father about his new job.

"Time for us to make some tracks, too," Stella suddenly said. I looked at her. "You remember where the Starflight Express is, presumably?"

I nodded. "Of course I do," I said.

"No need to look so flapping pleased with yourself! I hardly expected you to forget. Come on, let's head for the pass!" said Stella. "Let's go!" And with that, she flew off towards the mountain pass at a high-speed.

"Oh, come on. That's not fair. I can't fly," I complained, before running after her along the path.

I reached the pass in a fraction of the time it took me to reach it the other day. As I limped over to where Stella was waiting for me, I was panting and grabbing my side. "Please don't do that again," I pleaded.

"I thought you Celestrians were really strong."

"Strong? I just ran five miles non-stop in sandals carrying a bag. Don't talk to me about strength."

"Whatever. Anyway, here we are," she said. "All aboard!" Stella flew over to the door and opened it. Curious to see what the inside of the Starflight looked like, I followed her inside. As I had expected, there was a lot of yellow. A lot. And at the front was the control panel, covered with hundreds of different buttons. I really didn't envy anyone who had to learn what they all did. "So here we are on the Starflight," Stella announced as if giving a tour. "What do you reckon? Pretty swish, isn't she?" She turned towards the console. "I'd like to jazz her up a bit more, actually. It's still a bit on the plain side, wouldn't you say? I'm thinking pink rhinestones with gold around them. That'd really make the place look stellar, don't you think?"

"No."

She looked back at me and frowned. "…What? Not bothered about my amazing interior design ideas, eh? I suppose you just want to get going, do you?" I simply stared at her. "Fine, fine. No more hanging about. I'm pretty keen to get back to the Observatory and see how everything is, myself." She flew over to the console. "Here we go, then Iiiiit's TAKE-OFF TIME!" She slapped a button on the console. The Starflight groaned, rumbled, and went silent. "…Oh, flap. We have a problem. I thought it would fly if there was a Celestrian on board. I wonder what's wrong…" She sighed, then turned to me. "Hey, you couldn't see that Benevolessence before, could you, even though you reckon you're a Celestrian? That must be the problem!" She put her hands upon her hips. "I mean, it's a bit much to expect me to believe that Celestrians can just lose their halos and wings, isn't it?"

"Well, I guess you have a point," I agreed.

"Ha! Talk about being too honest for your own good!" She turned away. "Anyway, we don't have time for this. The Almighty won't be pleased if we hang around here while there's big stuff going on. Ooooiiii, Almighty, matey! You listening? We're in a right old gherkin here. Why don't you give us a flapping hand?"

I raised an eyebrow when I heard how Stella was speaking to the Almighty, though I chose not to comment about it. I still needed a ride home, and I decided I've been pressing my luck already.

However, Stella seemed to sense that something was wrong. "That's weird…" she mused. "He's probably too busy to notice us or something…" She turned back to me. "Alright, then, Michael, here's what we'll do: we'll follow the road to this Stornway place. When we get there, we'll help lots of people and get loads of Benevolessence. That should make that Almighty oaf prick his eyes up!"

I nearly choked when I heard how Stella talked about the Almighty this time around. But, I did think that her plan did make sense. As I stepped out of the Express, I felt somewhat relieved that I didn't have to leave the Protectorate yet. I rather enjoyed being down here, and I was happy that I will be able to explore more of it.

The sight of Stella zooming over my head snapped me out of my reverie. "Hey, wait up!" I yelled uselessly. "Great…" I murmured. "Time to start running again."

* * *

**So, yeah. That was a lot at once. Based on how things go, the lengths of the chapters from this point on should be somewhere between this chapter and the last.**

**Next chapter, Michael reaches Stornway, which he discovers has a very serious problem. Also, a new main character should be revealed next chapter.**

**If you find a typo, please don't hesitate to let me know so that I can fix it. I am only human, so I may make mistakes.**

**If you like what you read, please favorite, follow, and review. It means a lot.**

**D~F**


	4. Chapter 4: Social Problems

**Hello, everybody. DScribbleF is here with Chapter 4 for all of you. Sorry this update took longer than the other chapters, but you will not believe the week I just had. That International**** Baccalaureate Physics Standard Level exam was especially exhausting. Yes, it was as painful as it sounds. All I can say is may the Almighty bless circular motion and electrical circuits and may electromagnetic fields forever burn in agony.**

**Anyway, be grateful I managed to get this chapter out today. Until the summer begins, updates will probably become sparse, so if nothing happens to this story until mid-June, don't worry. I'm just really, really busy. Like, I can't even overstate how busy I will be.**

**But enough of the bad stuff. There's another great chapter for you to read in just a few lines, which brings into question why I'm still talking, preventing you from reading it. As I promised, Michael reaches Stornway and a new character is going to be introduced at the end.**

**Also, I just realized that I forgot to put the disclaimer in the last few chapters. I hope I don't get sued. Just in case...**

_**Dragon Quest IX **_**is property of Square Enix and Nintendo and not me and probably not you.**

**What I do own are the characters that I make up, such as Michael and the new person at the end.**

**And now, time for reviews. I know I should stop stalling, but I like talking to you. See, now you feel guilty. Anyway, the reviews:**

**SodaPOP20: I'm happy that you enjoy the story so far.**

**Luckenhaft: You, sir, have earned my respect. And yes, that joke did end horribly. That doesn't stop it from being funny. Also, you'll see how things work out. It will be a little different from how things would normally work. I'll explain more at the end.**

**princessdaisy01: Fine! Here's the next chapter. Sorry to keep you waiting, your majesty. I hope this one is easier for you to read.**

**Finally, the moment we have all been waiting for: The story! (Mass applause erupts throughout the universe)**

* * *

_Chapter Four: Social Problems_

It was a peaceful afternoon in Western Stornway. The sun was high in the sky and the sounds of nature could be clearly heard. A Hammerhood and a She-Slime were debating whether that one cloud looked like a ball of cotton. Nearby, a Funghoul was picking flowers for his mid-afternoon snack.

Then we showed up.

"So help the Almighty, Stella!" I gasped. "If you ever fly off without me a third time, I will grab you out of the air and stuff you into my bag!" I had finally managed to catch up with Stella after she had abandoned me in the mountain pass, three miles away. Needless to say, I was not in a good mood.

"Well, _excuse me_ for wanting to get back to the Observatory as fast as possible. Don't you?" replied Stella sarcastically.

"Yes, but _I_ also want to get there while still being able to breathe," I countered.

"Whatever," Stella replied, clearly not caring. "Now let's go already. The Benevolessence isn't going to collect itself, you know."

"Fine. Whatever. I don't care," I said, pinching my nose in annoyance.

And on that happy note, we walked through the main gates and entered the city. The first thing I saw when we entered was a giant stone palace that commanded everyone's attention from the back of the city. Then there was the bustling marketplace with a number of stores, each filled with dozens of customers. Finally, something to my left caught my attention. There, outside of an inn, was Erinn and Patty. I would have gone to greet them, but they were talking with each other, and I didn't want to interrupt.

"Hey, Erinn, what's up?" I heard Patty ask Erinn. "Not nervous, are you, honey?"

From how intensely Erinn seemed to be studying the cobblestone below, it seemed she was. "I'm afraid so," she admitted. "I just can't see how a young girl like me can suddenly take over such a big and important inn. And surely everyone else will be thinking exactly the same thing…"

"Sure, maybe they will," Patty agreed, lifting up Erinn's chin so that she had to look at her. "But I trust my instincts – and you should, too!" I couldn't tell if Patty meant Erinn should trust her instincts, or Patty's instincts. "I know you've got what it takes, Erinn. Seriously, just quit worrying!"

Feeling a little better, Erinn simply replied, "If you say so."

Patty smiled, obviously pleased with her motivational tactics. "Now, time to introduce you to your new colleagues!" she announced, opening the door and practically shoving Erinn through it. "Hey, guys! I'm back! And I've brought a big, shiny ray of hope with me!" she called after her, before entering herself.

"This should be good for a laugh," Stella declared from in front of me. I almost lunged for her neck at that point, but there were people around, and I didn't want to look like a crazy man who was strangling air. That, and I needed her to take me back to the Observatory. "Come on, let's follow them in there and see how Erinn gets on." She glided over to the inn and quickly entered through the open door. I soon followed her, but not before taking about thirty deep breaths.

Inside, Erinn and Patty were standing before a table in the center of the room. Four others were in the room as well. After I quietly closed the door, a redheaded woman began speaking. "Honestly, Patty, what were you thinking?" By how Erinn was staring at the floor, I sensed that the effects of Patty's motivational speech had worn off. "This slip of a girl's going to run the inn, is she?" the redhead continued. "We're on the brink of closing as it is. Are you trying to finish us off?"

"Jeez, Ginny, calm down, will ya?" Patty asked. "D'you think I'd pick just any young thing off the street to run this place? Erinn here has innkeeping in her blood. She'll have us back on track before you can say 'welcome'!"

Ginny, not entirely convinced, continued doubting. "Didn't you say the same thing about me when you brought me here? And didn't you say you were going to find 'the one guy who can save this place for certain'? No offence, but I'm not too convinced this is the 'guy' you were talking about."

"Please, just give me a chance!" Erinn suddenly blurted out, taking everyone by surprise. "You won't find anyone who'll work harder than me. And I learnt all there is to know about innkeeping from my father!" This caught Ginny's interest.

"So your father was an innkeeper too, was he?" she asked. Erinn nodded. "And I suppose you're here to make your daddy proud, hm? Well, that's very admirable, but running an inn isn't as easy as showing up and promising to try hard, you know. And you can talk all you like about how much your father taught you, but we don't even know who your father was."

Patty gave Erinn a knowing smile. "There it is!" she said. "The challenge we've been waiting for. Now's the time to show her, honey!"

Erinn looked at Patty, confused. "Um…show what?" Then realization flashed across her eyes. "Oh! You mean this?" she said, bending down and pulling Edwinn's giant trophy out of her bag (I felt my bag became envious immediately).

To say that had shocked Ginny and the other three would have been an understatement. "W-wait!" Ginny stuttered. "That trophy…it's…!"

Patty nodded with a smug smile on her face. "It sure is!" Patty said proudly. "Now tell me you doubt how good he was! And Erinn here shares the same Inncredible blood! Not bad, huh?" she asked.

What Patty got in response to her question still makes me laugh for some reason: Ginny and the others immediately dropped to the floor and began bowing towards Erinn. "Th-the Inncredible Inntertainer's daughter…oh…oh, my…!" Ginny said, clearly humbled.

Erinn just stood there, rather unsure on what to do. "Um, it's okay, really. There's no need to bow or scrape or anything."

Deciding I should make my presence known at this point, I went over to talk with Patty and Erinn. "Oh, Michael!" Erinn exclaimed, surprised to see me. "You came and visited just like you said you would! And so soon!" She looked down towards the floor again. "I'm afraid we've only just arrived ourselves, though. We're not quite ready to take any guests yet."

Patty turned to her. "Hey don't sweat it, sweetie. I'm sure Michael didn't come here to stay." Facing me, she continued. "I bet you came here 'cause you were worried about Erinn, huh? You wanted to see how she was getting along, right?"

"Of course," I replied. "I just happened to be passing through, and I wanted to make sure you were all right. After all, you helped me when I was in trouble and now I owe you big."

Erinn blushed. "It was nothing, really. Anyone would have done the same." I smiled, but didn't argue with her.

After a moment, Patty looked to me. "So, you're traveling all on your lonesome, huh, Michael?" I couldn't really deny that fact – Stella was invisible to her. "That sure is risky, honey. Why don't you hang around here for a while till the inn's open? Come by later and I bet I'll be able to hook you up with someone who could help you out, okay?"

"That would be great," I said. "When will the inn be open?"

Patty and Erinn just smiled at each other with a knowing look in their eyes. "Next time you visit, Michael," Erinn answered. "Now, go look around town while we get things set up."

I thanked them both, albeit a little concerned about how they just acted. As I left the inn, the six employees began to prepare the inn for guests, and I smiled as the door closed behind me.

As I walked away from the inn, Stella appeared in front of me. "'So, you're traveling all on your lonesome, huh, Michael?'" Stella mocked, clearly offended that I failed to mention her to Patty.

My smile grew at her ridiculousness. "You know they can't see you, Stella. It would be pointless and rather awkward to say that I had a companion already."

"Yeah? Well, don't expect any favors from me in the future," she retorted, looking away from me as I walked past. Needless to say, I was in a pretty good mood as I walked through the streets of Stornway.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the citizens of Stornway didn't share my current feeling towards the day. In fact, everyone seemed rather tense and a feeling of nervousness and concern permeated the crowds. Almost everyone had a sword or some other kind of weapon on their body, and, on several occasions, random people recommended that I leave Stornway immediately and to take care when traveling outside the city.

Curious to find out what was wrong, Stella and I hurried over to the message board that sat in the middle of town. When we reached the board, we found a large, official-looking notice tacked to it. This is what it said:

'_A mysterious knight in black armor is terrorizing our town. If anyone is brave enough to fight him, come to the castle. Anyone will do._

_- King Schott of Stornway_'

"Sounds fun. What do you think?" I asked Stella.

"Sounds scary to me," she replied.

"That's really too bad, actually, because that's what we're going to do," I declared.

Ignoring Stella's various gestures of disagreement, I turned away from the sign and immediately ran into someone who was walking by, knocking me to the ground. Regaining use of my eyes, I saw that I had run into a fifteen-year-old girl with blinding red hair and an equally red dress. She had a wooden wand strapped over her shoulder.

I quickly got up and tried to apologize and offer her help off the ground, but she was already up and hurrying through the crowds towards the front half of the city. "What's her problem?" asked Stella. "She comes out of nowhere, knocks you down, and then doesn't even stop to see if you are okay! Some people are so rude!"

"I'm sure she had her reasons, Stella," I said, still watching where the mysterious red-head had disappeared into the crowd. "Now let's hurry to the castle."

As we made to enter the palace gates, we were suddenly stopped by the guards who stood post. "State your business, wanderer!" one of them barked at me.

"I heard you had a little problem with a mysterious knight, and I decided to help you guys out," I explained.

"Ah!" said the guard. "Well, in that case, you'd better go inside the castle and find out more about it."

"Thanks," I said, walking past and entering the castle.

Once inside, my mind was blown away by the amazing interior: There was gold and thick carpeting everywhere. Even Stella seemed slightly impressed, whistling. "Now this is stellar!" she exclaimed. "I've definitely got more ideas for jazzing up the Starflight now!" It figures _that_ was where her mind went to first.

Looking around, I found a staircase that led upstairs. "The throne room must be up there," I said. "Let's go, Stella." I headed up the stairs, but stopped halfway when I realized that someone _wasn't_ following me. Turning around, I saw Stella was still fawning over the hundreds of valuables around the palace. She was clearly more impressed than I thought. Making sure there was absolutely no one in the general vicinity of us, I quickly ran down the stairs, grabbed Stella's arm, and pulled her up the stairs. She was clearly unhappy to have been torn away from the shiny things, but she didn't say anything about it.

At the top of the stairs, there was a second floor (much to no one's surprise) where a large door stood ajar. Through it was another large room. At the far end, on a raised platform, stood two thrones. The left one was empty, but, in the right one, sat a green-robed man with blond hair, a bushy beard and mustache, and a golden crown. He was clearly King Schott of Stornway. He was in a heated argument with a brown-haired young woman in a blue dress and a diadem.

"Och, Simona!" the king said. "How many more times do I have to tell you? You're not to go and see him!"

"And how many times do I have to tell you, Father?" Simona countered. "The Wight Knight keeps coming to town because he's looking for me! Don't you see? If I go to him, then everyone in Stornway can go about their lives in peace again!" I was surprised how similar the way the two royals spoke was to how the people on the streets spoke.

"You're being ridiculous, lassie!" the king retorted. "Do I look like the kind of man who'd sacrifice my daughter to that nefarious knight?"

"But, Father-!" Simona began to protest, but the King finally noticed I was standing by the door.

"Wheesht!" he told his daughter. "We have visitors. No more of your blethering! You there, approach the throne!" I walked across the room, trying to pretend that I didn't hear anything that they just said, and bowed in front of King Scott's throne. "I am King Schott, master of this castle, and monarch of Stornway. Did you come here because of the sign down in the town there?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," I answered.

"You did?" Schott exclaimed. "So you're going to help us defeat this Wight Knight character?" Again, I said yes. "Crivvens!" he exclaimed, again. "You want to take up the challenge to defeat the Wight Knight? Tell me your name!"

"I am Michael, Your Majesty."

"Well then," the King began to explain, "you'd better listen to what I have to say. Obviously, I have a reason for asking a passer-through to defeat this no-good knight." He looked lovingly at his daughter. "You see, that paddock only came and infiltrated my castle to try and snatch away my daughter!" Looking back at me, he continued. "He's had the nerve to demand that she be delivered to him at Loch Storn by a certain time. I'm convinced that it's some kind of fiendish trap. I reckon he's trying to weaken my castle's defenses by having me send my soldiers out to the loch with her. Then he'll attack! That's why I want to employ some likely lad – like your good self – instead."

Simona looked appalled at the thought. "Och, Father!" she cried out. "You can't possibly ask a stranger who's just passing through the place to do such a thing!"

Schott looked at her with a look that rivaled my own. "Wheesht!" he said. "I will not let that ruffian get the better of me!"

Simona looked at the floor in defeat. "It's very sad, Father…very sad that you won't even slightly consider my feelings on this." With that, she turned and ran out of the room, with the three of us watching her go, which made me realize that Stella was being unusually quiet now. She was probably scared of the Wight Knight.

After an awkward silence, Schott spoke again. "…Ahem. Sorry about that. My lass likes to do the right thing, and she seems to think the right thing is to go up there and meet him. Anyway, I'd be much obliged if you could away to Loch Storn and make sure he's not up to any trickery. Do you know how to get there?"

"Er…No, Your Majesty," I admitted.

"It's quite easy, actually," the king explained. "Once you leave Stornway, just head straight north until you cross the river. Loch Storn will be on the right. Now, be sure to give him a good thrashing if you find him, won't you? Just pummel the fiend into the ground!" I was shocked at the amount of hatred the king held for this Wight Knight, even if he did try to steal his daughter. The king, noticing the look on my face, calmed down a little. "Naturally, there'll be a braw reward waiting for you when you get back. I'm putting all my hopes on you!"

"I will try my best, sir. Worry not," I said, turning to make my leave, but the king stopped me for one last thing.

"You travel alone, is that correct?" he asked.

Glancing at Stella, I replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."

The king thought for a moment, then continued. "Now, I don't want to discourage you, but I feel that I should warn you that the Wight Knight has taken out dozens of my soldiers at once. I worry that you will have some difficulty facing him by yourself."

"What you have me do, Your Majesty?" I asked, understanding his concern.

"That depends," he answered. "Are you mostly a physical or magical attacker?"

I thought about that for a moment. Being classified as a minstrel, I could use both physical and magical attacks. However, after reflecting upon it, I decided that I use my sword much more than I use my magic. "Physical," I answered.

"In that case, I would recommend that you find a magical attacker who would be willing to travel with you. I think a mage would do," the king decided. "Yes, I think that would be best."

A mage? Great. Now I have to go find someone who can use magic _and_ is willing to risk their life. That should be so easy in a town of people who are scared half to death when the Wight Knight is mentioned. "As you wish, Your Majesty," I agreed, hiding all of my internal strife this will cause me.

"Good," the King said. "Well, with that out-of-the-way, I feel a little better about this. Good luck to you." With that, he dismissed me.

When we were back outside the castle, and out of sight from everyone, Stella finally started talking again. "You heard the king. You need a mage if you're going to challenge the Wight Knight, and since we don't have one, we can't. Let's find someone else to help."

"Stella," I began to explain, "there is no one else to help. Everyone here as the same problem, and to solve it, we need to fight the Wight Knight, and to do that, we need to find a mage."

"Where are we going to find a mage is this place?" Stella asked. "It's not like there's a place where we can just go and find one. Oh, wait…"

When Stella said that, I remembered something important. "Patty!" I exclaimed, much to Stella's disappointment. "She said that if I ever needed someone to travel with, she was the person to ask."

"Fantastic," Stella said, emotionlessly. "Watch as I struggle to contain my excitement."

I ignored her. "But, will there be a mage there?" I thought out loud. "I mean, I don't even know if they're open yet. I guess there's only one way to find out. Come on, Stella. Let's head to Erinn's"

"Yay," she said, sulking. I smiled, and headed off towards the inn.

(No one's POV)

Five minutes after running into Michael, the red-headed girl entered the inn. Looking around the inn, which was surprisingly crowded for having re-opened five minutes ago, she hurried over to the front desk, where Patty was standing by herself with her back turned. Taking a deep breath, the red-head called her attention. "Hey, Patty."

Patty jumped and, having recognized the voice, quickly spun around. "Jessica, honey, is that ya?"

"Yeah," Jessica sighed.

"What are ya doing here?" Patty asked, now concerned for her friend. "Weren't ya traveling with those other guys, honey?"

"Yeah, I was," Jessica replied.

"Was?" Patty repeated. "As in, ya were, but aren't anymore?"

"Exactly."

"What happened, honey?" Patty asked, starting to get impatient with Jessica's lack of an explanation.

"Well," Jessica finally began, "they left me because they didn't like me."

"Why not?" Patty asked, really getting tired of this.

"They were afraid of my powers, just like everyone else was," Jessica explained. "You should know this already."

Relieved that they were finally getting somewhere, Patty continued questioning Jessica. "Why would they be afraid of your powers," Patty asked. "Ya can use magic, just like all mag- Oh…I understand. You're talking about that."

"Yup, That," Jessica confirmed, also relieved that they were getting somewhere. "So that comes to why I'm here. If you couldn't tell, I have nowhere to go…again. So, do you have a room for me?"

"Of course, honey!" said Patty. "There will always be a room for ya here. How long d'you think you'll stay?"

Sighing, Jessica answered, "I'm thinking for…for a long time. I don't know what I want to do anymore, so I'm just going to stay here until I figure it out."

Patty gave her friend a concerned look and a room key. "Here ya go, Hon," she said. "It's the same room as always. Ya stay as long as ya want, alright honey."

Forcing a smile, Jessica replied, "Thanks, Patty. Let's hope things get better."

* * *

**Well, there you go. The fourth chapter of Michael's story. I hope it was a good one.**

**Also, here's our new character: Jessica. If you can't tell what her role in this story is going to be yet, I really can't help you. And that brings me to another thing. Now, I know that, when playing through the game normally, at this point, the hero gets all three of their party members at once. However, that is not how this story is going to work. Instead of pulling three brand new characters out of thin air, I'm going to stagger their appearances, which will give me time to actually get some characterization done. If you don't like that, and I don't know why you wouldn't, I'm sorry that's how I'm doing it.**

**As always, please point out any typos, errors, or inconsistencies that you find. I scoured this chapter for any, but, as always, I am only human.**

**If you enjoyed what you read, please follow, favorite, and review. It means a lot.**

**Until next time, whenever that may be, this has been DScribbleF.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Wight Knight

**Time to celebrate, everyone! I'm finally back with another chapter for all of you to enjoy. Yes, yes, I'm sorry. I know that I had four updates in a month then nothing for the next month. But I have an excuse! That excuse would be that the end of 11th grade is really hard. Not even joking, I had to write five essays, make two movies, give five presentations, and then take seven final exams. At least it's summer vacation now, and I can chip away at my mountain of summer homework at my leisure.**

**But enough about me. Let's talk about the story. There's tons of humor, tons of drama, The Look makes an appearance, an epic battle scene, and, at the end, Jessica's "big" secret is revealed. (Note how big is in quotation marks.)**

**Anyway, here's the boring legal part that we all need to see:**

_**Dragon Quest IX **_**is property of Square Enix and Nintendo and not me and probably not you.**

**What I do own are the characters that I make up, such as Michael and Jessica.**

**There. Now we just need to get through the reviews, and then you can start the next chapter.**

** of dragons: I'm happy that you approve of my decisions. Not that you had any choice in the matter.  
**

**Princessdaisy01: Shh! You're going to spoil it, maybe... (*wink wink*)**

**Luckenhaft: Funny story, I hadn't heard of that character from Dragon Quest VIII until long after I had already created Jessica in my own game. Stop judging me.**

**Yurei Hanatsuki: Thank you for the smiley face. Oh, and you can take Wormwood Creek, but I want Upover.**

* * *

_Chapter Five: The Wight Knight_

(Michael's POV)

The sun had already begun its long descent towards the horizon when Stella and I returned to the Quester's Rest. Stella had thankfully stopped complaining about our mission, but I could tell she was still unhappy about it. Not that I was going to let that bother me, or anything.

Now, given that fact that Erinn had arrived in town only a few hours ago, I was not what I saw when I walked through the front door. During the time Stella and I were exploring Stornway, the inn had clearly opened for business and apparently had become the most popular place in town to stay, as there was now an immense amount of people inside the inn. I was so surprised, in fact, I turned around and walked back outside.

"What's the matter, Michael?" asked Stella, who had stayed outside waiting for me.

"Nothing…," I replied, scratching my head while staring at the building. "Just making sure we're at the right place."

"Why? This is clearly Erinn's inn. What else could it be?" Stella asked, annoyed.

"I don't know. It's just weird."

"What's weird?"

"Erinn's inn is already super busy," I explained.

"Wha…How? It must have just opened!" Stella exclaimed.

"I know. I don't get it either."

"Well, she clearly has a gift when it comes to innkeeping. If that's the case, then I guess she'll be too busy to help us find a mage. Let's go somewhere else."

"Nice try, Stella," I replied, easily seeing through her words. "Besides, it was Patty who said she could help us find partners, not Erinn."

"Oh, yeah… How could I forget," Stella mumbled, upset that her latest attempt at stopping me was foiled. "Well, you better go back inside and see what Patty can do."

I smiled. "Thank you, Stella. Now, let's try this again." Turning around, I walked back into the building, now knowing what to expect. After fighting my through the crowd, I finally managed to reach the front counter, where Erinn and Patty were standing. Erinn was swamped with customers, so she didn't notice my arrival. Patty, however, was just standing there doing nothing.

"Hey there, Michael! Did I welcome you to my Party Planning place yet?" she greeted rather enthusiastically.

"Party Planning place?" I repeated, rather confused.

"Yeah. This is the place to hook up with new party members," Patty explained.

"Oh. That's perfect since that's exactly what I need."

"Really? And are you looking for any specific kind of person?"

"Yes, actually. I'm in need of a mage. Do you happen to have anyone who's interested?" As soon as I said that, I saw something flash across Patty's eyes, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"A mage, huh?" Patty repeated. "Well, there just happens to be a mage staying here at the moment. She's a friend of mine, and she might be interested in joining you on your journey."

"Really?" I exclaimed, not believing my luck. "Can you go ask her now? I'm kind of on a time constraint."

"Of course, honey," she answered. But as she was leaving, she paused and turned back to me. "Actually, there is one thing I should mention about her."

"What?"

"She's not exactly a normal mage," Patty explained. "She has slightly different abilities than others."

I smiled. "I think a can handle 'slightly different.'"

"Yeah? Then wait right here while I get her for you honey," she said in a hurry before running through a back door just as quickly.

'Huh,' I thought to myself. 'She seems a little too excited for this kind of thing. I wonder why.'

* * *

(Jessica's POV)

I was lying in bed staring at my ceiling. I wasn't trying to fall asleep as much as I was trying to relax, but that became rather difficult as soon as someone started thundering up the stair case up to the second floor. Annoyed, I grabbed a pillow and pushed it over my ears, trying to block out the sound. Thankfully, it stopped after a few seconds, but just as I was about to get back to relaxing, a deafening pounding from the other side of the door to my room shattered the silence.

"Jessica! Jessica! Are you there, honey?" I heard Patty scream through the door.

"Yeah… Hang on," I answered back. If Patty was this excited for something, I figured I may as well check it out and see what's up. I slowly rolled off my bed, stretched, straightened out my dress, grabbed my wand, and walked over to the door. I opened it to find a super hyper and impatient Patty pacing outside my door. "What is it, Patty?" I asked, hoping it was something good.

"I have some great news for ya! I found someone who'd be willing to let you join their party!" Patty exclaimed, clearly proud of herself.

"I doubt it. It will just end the same way all the other times had, with me coming back here all alone," I decided.

"Not this time, honey. I already told him-"

"What did you tell him!?" I snapped suddenly.

Patty seemed to be a little taken aback by my outburst. "Nothing. I only told him that you're a little different, honey."

"And…?"

"He says he doesn't care about it," Patty concluded.

"I see. And he's waiting downstairs now?"

"Yup."

"Well, I suppose I may as well go and see him. Just let me grab my things."

"No problem, honey," Patty replied. It looked like she was struggling to not break out in celebration. I shook my head, went back into my room and grabbed my bag, which held some food and medicine. Nothing fancy.

"Okay, Patty. Let's go."

* * *

(Michael's POV)

While waiting for Patty to return, I was resting at one of the tables in the inn. I was grateful for this moment where I could close my eyes and just relax. It seems like only yesterday when I was fighting the Hexagoon. Wait, it was yesterday. Never mind.

I was also grateful for the fact that I didn't have to listen to Stella's complaining for a little while, since she was waiting for me outside.

"What's taking you so flapping long!?"

Of course. I opened my eyes and, lo and behold, Stella was fluttering in the air in front of me. Keeping my voice low to not attract anyone else's attention, I replied, "What's your problem now, Stella?"

"You're taking way too flappin' long. If we have to do this, I want to get it done with as soon as possible. So hurry up!"

I sighed and looked out the window. "Look, the Wight Knight isn't coming until sundown, and as the sun is still rather high in the sky, I think we have plenty of time to wait. As it were, Patty is getting a mage for us now. They should be here any moment."

"Good. I'm going to wait in here with you until we're all ready to go."

"Great. Whatever. I don't care. Oh, thank the Almighty: there's Patty now. Let's go see what's up." I walked over to the counter where Patty was waiting and asked, "So, does she want to come?"

"She's willing to give you a chance, honey," Patty answered cheerfully. Then her voice suddenly became lower. "But remember, she's a little different from other mages, and she feels terrible about herself because of it. So, be kind to her, will ya, hon'?

"Of course, Patty," I replied.

"Good. Now let me bring her out here for you." Patty turned around, opened the door behind her and spoke to someone on the other side. "He's ready to see you now. Come on out and meet him, honey."

Patty stepped to the side, and there, standing in the doorway, was the very-red girl I ran into earlier. "Michael, this is Jessica. Jessica, this is Michael," Patty introduced.

"You!" we both screamed in surprise once we saw each other.

"Um…" Patty said, rather confused. "Do you guys know each other?"

"We kind of ran into each other earlier," I explained.

"It's a long story, Patty. Don't worry about it," Jessica added.

"I won't," Patty replied. "Well, my job here's done. Good luck on your travels, honey!"

I thanked Patty for her help and left the inn. Outside, I turned towards Jessica and said, "Let's get going. It's almost sundown."

"Wait, you want to go now?" Jessica asked, surprised. "Shouldn't we wait until morning before we go anywhere?"

"Nope," I answered, already heading towards the gate out of town. "I – we – have something we have to do tonight."

"Fine," Jessica said, following me. "What is it?"

"Have you heard of the Wight Knight?"

"Yeah, I think everyone here has. Why?"

A small smile came to my lips. "We're going to meet him on behalf of King Schott."

Jessica stopped where she stood. "What!?" She screamed that so loudly that a few nearby She-Slimes ran away. "Are you crazy?"

"Possibly."

"That's a terrible idea! Do you know how powerful he is? He took out who squadrons of soldiers!"

Stella, who Jessica couldn't see, appeared next to me. "Yes! Someone who agrees with me! Come on, Michael. It's two against one here. Give it up."

I happily ignored Stella. "Look, Jessica, you don't have to come if you don't want to. You can go back to Stornway whenever you want. As for me, I'm going to meet the Wight Knight. It's your choice."

Jessica just stood there for a moment, thinking. She looked at me, then back at Stornway, then back at me. "Ah, why not," she ultimately decided. "I don't have anything better to do. I mean, who knows? We might actually survive this."

"Oh, come flapping on!" Stella yelled.

"That's the spirit," I said to Jessica. "Now, let's hurry over to Loch Storn. Night won't wait for us forever."

"Lead the way, Michael."

* * *

As we walked towards Lock Storn, we started talking about ourselves. Jessica started. "Well, I lived my whole life in the eastern town of Coffinwell until a few years ago, when I left to go adventuring. It's a nice town full of nice people, and my parents still live there."

"That sounds nice," I replied.

"It is. Although, I haven't heard from them in while; but I guess that's probably because the border between Stornway and Coffinwell is closed right now."

"You're probably right. I wouldn't worry too much about it," I supported.

"Thanks. And what about you? Where are you from?"

"Where am I from?" I repeated. "That's a good question. I suppose I never really had a home. I've always been traveling from town to town." I never liked lying to people, but I felt I had to at this point. "However, if I had to choose a place to call home, I'd probably say Angel Falls."

"I see," Jessica replied. "And what do you do during your travels?"

"I go around and help as many people as I can. What about you? What do you do on your adventures?"

"I just go around occasionally helping out other adventurers for a little while," Jessica explained. Then a suspicious smile came to her face. "Nothing too mage-r."

I stopped right where I was and twitched. Stella, on the other hand, began laughing uncontrollably. "The look on your face right now," she managed to get out between laughs. "It's totally priceless. I wish you could see it."

I quickly gave Stella the Look, which caused her to shut up almost immediately. Then I turned towards Jessica, who was clearly struggling to contain her laughter. "I-I'm sorry," she managed to get out. "I couldn't help it. It was too good of an opportunity."

I just rubbed my temples and turned away. 'She clearly feels terrible about herself,' I thought to myself as I quickly hurried away.

"Hey, wait for me, Michael! I said I'm sorry!"

* * *

When we reached Loch Storn, the sun was just above the water, turning everything a beautiful shade of orange. An island could be seen in the distance. The main area we were standing in was a grassy field with large cliffs on either side.

It wasn't quite night yet, so we decided to sit under one of the cliffs and rest while we waited for the Wight Knight to appear. After a while, Stella appeared again. "This is where the Wight Knight's supposed to be waiting for the princess, right?" Stella asked. "I can't see head nor tail of him. Surely he's not going to stand us up!" She turned to me. "What do you reckon, Michael? Want to give it a bit longer?" I nodded, so that I didn't catch Jessica's attention. "Whatever. I needed some time to relax anyway."

Sometime later, after the moon had risen into the sky and all the monsters except the Drackmages and Winksters had fallen asleep already, Stella reappeared again. "Huh!" she said indignantly. "Still no sign of him! What sort of knight would stand up a lady in a place like this? Why don't we go back to Stornway? We should go back and tell the king the Wight Knight didn't turn up."

"Fine," I agreed. I turned to Jessica, who had also fallen asleep at this point, and started to wake her up. "Wake up, Jessica. We're going back to Stornway now."

She started to stir. "Mm-kay. The Wight Knight hasn't shown up yet, has he?"

"Nope," I answered. "I don't know where he-" I froze.

Stella, who was a distance behind me, suddenly stopped. "…Why do I get the feeling that, if I turn around, he'll be standing right there?" I heard her ask.

"Michael, what's wrong?" Jessica asked, now fully awake due to the adrenaline produced by her ever increasing panic.

Behind me, Stella slowly turned around and turned deathly pale. "Y-y-y-yikes!" she cried out. "I w-was only flapping j-joking!"

Jessica, now fully concerned, followed my gaze to the top of the opposing cliff, where, mounted on a black horse, covered head to foot in black armor, was a knight.

The Wight Knight.

Jessica quickly jumped up and hid behind me, and Stella disappeared to wherever she disappears to. At the same time, the Wight Knight descended from the cliff, jumping from rock to rock on his way down. As he landed directly in front of us, we slowly backed away from him.

"Who are you?" he asked in a deep, dark voice. "I have no business with you. Where is the princess?" He reached behind him and pulled out a huge lance, which he pointed at us. "Release the princess! Release my beautiful princess!" he ordered. When his faceplate suddenly flipped open by itself, my blood chilled and Jessica let out a tiny scream when it revealed nothing but a skull with glowing red eyes beneath it. Then he charged at us.

I immediately pushed Jessica out of the way and leapt to the side myself, barely dodging the thundering hooves of the Wight Knight's horse. He quickly pulled his horse around and began another charge towards me; this time holding out is lance. Ready for him, I lifted my shield and readied my sword. When he passed by, he hit my shield with such force that my whole arm went into shock, but I ignored it and swung my sword with my other arm, landing a hit on the Wight Knight's passing leg, creating a hollow ringing sound.

A hollow ringing sound? Was the Wight Knight nothing more than an armored skeleton? If so, then this battle might be a little more difficult than I had thought.

As the Wight Knight made his third charge at me, I realized something was missing. "Hey, Jessica!" I called out. "Anytime you want to help out and throw some magic at this guy, it would be greatly appreciated."

Jessica, who had been petrified with fear this whole time, finally came back to reality. "What? Oh, sorry! I'll try to help out a little more." She immediately followed this by holding her wand up and launching a small fireball from it, which landed a direct hit on the Wight Knight's torso, causing it to become a bright red as it became super-heated. Taking the opportunity, I jumped up and slashed across the front of the hot, soft metal, leaving a massive dent across it.

The Wight Knight, now facing two immediate threats, filled his lance with energy, spun it around a few times and attacked randomly four consecutive times. Three of those times, it attacked me, knocking me back a bit, but otherwise leaving me relatively unscathed. The fourth time, the lance was directed at Jessica, who barely managed to raise her shield in time to defend the attack, the force of which threw her back a few feet.

At first, I was worried about Jessica, but when she stood back up, I could see that she was more annoyed than she was hurt. Before the Wight Knight could attack again, Jessica held up her wand again. Suddenly, the air around the Wight Knight shimmered and warped before igniting in a small explosion, knocking him back and shooting dust everywhere.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I ran up and landed a few more hits across his armor, then got of the way as Jessica cast another spell, this time creating a large chunk of ice in the sky, which fell on the Wight Knight and shattered, scattering ice all over the field and really pissing him off, but otherwise appearing to have no effect on him.

Enraged, the Wight Knight pulled back to the other side of the field, charged his lance with electricity, and began charging straight at me. Getting real tired of this, I raised my sword and shield and ran at the Wight Knight as will. On my way, however, I slipped on a leftover chunk of ice and fell on my back, stunned. My sword had fallen a few feet away.

Within moments, the Wight Knight had reached me and had reared his horse back, ready to crush me. I held my shield up in the hope it would be able to take the impending impact.

As the horse's legs began to drop, I heard Jessica scream, "Hang on to something!" Looking towards her, I saw that she had summoned a small whirlwind, which was flying across the field. I quickly leapt for my sword and thrust it into the ground as the miniature tornado flew past, almost carrying me off. The Wight Knight wasn't so lucky, getting carried across the field and thrown into the opposite cliff. He fell on the ground with a loud _thump_.

After a moment, he started moving again. I pulled my sword out of the ground as he struggled to rise, but he only managed to get to a kneeling position with his head hung in defeat. "I don't understand," he said. His voice was still deep, but it wasn't as dark as it was earlier. "Why would the Princess send you in her place? Why has my beloved Mona forsaken me? Does our promise no longer mean anything to her?"

I looked at Jessica, who had walked up next to me, and saw that she looked as confused as I did. Mona? The princess of Stornway was Simona. Stella suddenly appeared next to me, also confused. "Any idea what he's on about, Michael? Who's this Mona? The princess in Stornway's called Simona, right? Not Mona. This knight's got a nail loose, if you ask me."

The Wight Knight turned to Stella. "Is, is that really true?" he asked. Stella jumped a mile upon being addressed, and Jessica just looked more confused.

"Who is he talking to, Michael?" she asked me. I shrugged.

"Yikes!" Stella screamed. "How come you can see me? You gave me a right flapping shock there!"

The Wight Knight ignored her. "You have to tell me," he desperately pleaded to us. "Is the girl in the castle really not Princess Mona?"

Jessica and I glanced at each other, than back at the Knight. "No," I replied. "She is Simona, princess of Stornway."

He looked down to the ground, completely defeated. "Oh, woe is me!" he cried out. "So she wasn't my princess after all. Now you mention it, she wasn't wearing the royal necklace of Brigadoom…" He stood up fully and turned towards the water. After a long pause, he continued. "…I was in a very deep sleep…Then the earthquake happened, and I awoke in this strange land feeling as though I had been released from some kind of…prison…I'd completely lost my memory, so much so that I didn't even remember who I was anymore. Then I saw that princess and it all came rushing back to me. Memories of Mona and I." He turned back to us. "I remembered that I am the Wight Knight. And I remembered that Mona is the princess of my homeland of Brigadoom. Princess Mona and I had sworn undying love for each other and were to be wed."

"So he went and confused Princess Simona for Princess Mona?" Stella asked. "Blimey! They must be the splitting images of each other…" I subtly nodded in agreement.

The Wight Knight looked past us into the distance. "Hmm…" he murmured. "I must do the honorable thing. I must return to the castle and apologize for my mistake."

"Uh-oh," Stella said. "I'd try to talk him down from that if I were you, Michael. It'll probably just make things worse." It seemed Jessica shared the same feeling.

The Wight Knight, who had started listening to Stella again, replied, "Make things worse? Yes, I fear you may be correct. Then perhaps you could take a message on my behalf?"

Jessica, who probably assumed that the Wight Knight was flat out crazy at this point, answered for us. "Sure we can. What do you want us to say?"

The Wight Knight looked at her. "Tell them I won't go near the castle again. I'm sure the real Princess Mona will be waiting for me back in Brigadoom. All I have to do now is find my way home." He climbed back on his horse and rode out of the Loch – thankfully – away from Stornway.

Once he was out of sight, Jessica and I both released a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured me. "I'm more worried about you. You took a lot of hits out there."

"Don't worry. I'm a lot stronger than I appear."

"Yeah, I saw. You looked pretty deadly with that sword."

"Thanks," I replied. "So, what do you think of this whole ordeal, with Princess Mona and Brigadoom and whatnot?"

"I don't know," she answered. "I've never even heard of a place called Brigadoom.

"Me neither. Maybe someone back in Stornway has heard of it. We can ask around after we report to the king."

"Sure," she agreed. "But now, I just want to go back to the inn and rest. I'm super exhausted and just happy to still be alive."

"Yeah. It's a good thing we had your magic. I would have been toast without it."

"I'm just happy I could help," she replied.

"What magic did you use anyway? Let me see if I can remember what they were called." I was so deep in thought trying to remember the names of her spells; I didn't even notice that Jessica had suddenly tensed up again. "Let's see," I began. "You used Frizz, then Bang and Crack, and at the end you used Woosh." Being so invested in my musings as I was, I didn't even notice that Jessica wasn't even looking at me anymore. "Wait a sec…" I said as I remembered something. "How could you use Woosh? Mages shouldn't be able to learn that spell. Ever. Only minstrels and luminaries can." That's when I finally noticed how uncomfortable Jessica had become. "What's wro- Oh…" I had a sudden realization. "That's how you're different from other mages, isn't it? You know wind magic when you're not supposed to."

Jessica looked on the verge of tears. "Yup," is all she said in response.

"And you feel terrible about yourself because of it?" She only nodded. For a moment, I stood there in silence, pondering her situation. Then I suddenly burst out, "That's it!? That's preposterous!"

Jessica seemed confused about my outburst. "What do you mean?" she asked meekly.

"Why would you feel bad about having extra power?

"Well, everyone else I had traveled with had said that I was weird and messed up when they found out. You're the first, besides Patty, to not completely abandon me on the spot," she answered.

"Seriously!?" I exclaimed. "Those people are just giant jerks who didn't know a great opportunity when they saw one! How did you even learn wind magic in the first place?"

"I…don't know," she replied. "I was just practicing magic one day and I suddenly used Woosh. I have no idea where it came from."

"In that case, I'd chalk it up to luck. Anyone should feel lucky to have the option of accessing a whole other field of magic."

"Really?" Jessica asked, looking a lot better than she did a few moments ago.

"Absolutely," I answered.

"So you're not going to abandon me?" she asked sheepishly.

"Of course not!" I replied. "Now let's get back to Stornway. I'm tired."

Jessica smiled "Sure thing, Michael. And let's hurry – sunrise is going to be in a couple of hours."

* * *

**And there you have it, folks: Chapter 5. I do hope it was worth the wait. And yes, I know. Jessica's secret was super anti-climatic. Or was it? (*laughs evilly*)**

**Before I go, I want to announce one last thing****. In this chapter, Michael met his first partner, Jessica. What I'm proposing is this: I have two other people planned to join his party in the future. I already know who they are, what their vocations are going to be, and what they're personalities are like. What I don't have planned is how they're going to be added into the story. So, what I'm thinking of doing is allowing you, the readers, to make suggestions in your reviews on how either of these two characters will be introduced to Michael (One suggestion per review, please). If I like your suggestion better than what I have already planned, I will add it to the story. Ultimately, there will be AT MOST two winners to this contest. There may easily be none. Oh, and one last thing: I'm purposely not telling you anything about these characters, so you will have to make blind guesses while writing your suggestions. So, you could easily get their gender or vocation wrong. If you want to take part in this, I wish you luck.**

**And, as always, please mention any typos, errors, or inconsistencies that you find in the chapter.**

**If you enjoyed what you read, or if you want to take part in my "contest," please favorite, follow, and review. It means a lot.**

**Until next time, this has been DScribbleF.**


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